Trips and Visits
At FSG, one of our central values is to help our students to leave us feeling bold & spectacular; 10ft tall and ready to take on the world. We do this in school through a broad and balanced curriculum reflecting a healthy balance between academic and character education; through both our FSGBacc programme and our Global Dimension & International School Status. We are lucky to have beautiful grounds and a wide variety of activities on site - climbing walls, bike trails, archery, paint balling, a radio station and recording studio; even our own escape room! We have overnight camps on site too with an outdoor cinema night to recognise the girls’ achievements and contributions and all of these are offered at no cost to students. As an international school, girls are also able to have pen pals from around the world and through our video conferencing suite, we're able to 'beam' students from partner schools in Nepal and around the world live into lessons to bring learning to life. The world is bigger than Folkestone and as powerful as all that’s on offer in school is, there's nothing quite like seeing it, for real, ourselves!
We are in no doubt then as to the power of school trips and visits - this could be a theatre, gallery or museum visit, an overnight trip to the WWI battlefields around Ypres and Christmas Markets in Bruges or a two-week safari in Eswatini, Southern Africa! An adventure trip, a cultural trip, a day trip or a residential; from Iceland to America, Germany to Cuba, these trips can play a vital part in helping students develop. They build cultural capital and can, not only provide memories that can last a lifetime, but create opportunities and experiences that can help shape a lifetime. As such we want to enable as many students as possible to benefit from the experiences they offer. Whilst national agendas have talked of ‘narrowing the gap’ and ‘closing gaps’ we have been busily ‘filling gaps’ in the breadth of the curricular & co-curricular opportunities we offer.
It is essential to support personal growth that we allow the students to see and investigate the world around them and expose them to different countries and culture. Furthermore, trips provide an opportunity to be independent from home; to build other key skills such as independence, communication and teamwork. As we have expanded our co-curricular development of students, the number of trips has increased, from Duke of Edinburgh expeditions to CCF exercises and camps to International School Exchange trips - a whole host of new adventures to be had. This has a potentially significant cost for parents/carers within the school community. We must also of course balance the opportunities we provide for the students with the impact on education for those left behind (in lessons & requiring cover) and with staff workload. Group sizes too must be viable for the trips we run. As a result, we operate a tier system to identify and plan the types of trips available as best we can. Trips also rely on the good will of staff to organise and run them so this too is a factor in considering whether a trip is run.
We offer an extensive array of trips - typically over 140 a year and typically over 80% of students go on a trip each year - an unparalleled programme of trips.
To remove barriers to attending, we are able to offer limited financial support to students who are currently eligible for free school meals.
Two types of trips
As a school there are many types of educational visit that are held every single year and throughout their time here there will be a chance for girls to attend many of these. The trips range in terms of destination, duration and purpose from day trips to the local beach to study coastal erosion to 4-week safaris in Namibia!
We define educational visits in two groups:
- Curriculum trips - these are a direct requirement of the subject curriculum. For example, Geography students need to complete field work so the students may visit Canterbury to look at the role tourism plays in the life of the city or visit the coast to study erosion. These trips are compulsory for students. We ask parents/carers for a voluntary contribution to these trips if they can afford to.
- Co-curricular trips - these trips are designed to enrich or enhance the curriculum or school experience and are optional. These trips are at cost to the students (parents/carers). Almost all trips are co-curricular.
Consent and Payments
The school maintains an online payment facility, Wisepay, which can be accessed here.
Each student has an individual Wisepay account. We are now a cashless school, and all payments should be made through Wisepay.
Before taking a student off site it is vital that we have legal permission to do so, and that we have consent for medical treatment should the need arise. This permission can be given online, and the letter inviting your child on the trip will give you details of how to do this. Please note that payment for a trip does not mean that this legal permission has been given, this is a separate requirement before your child can go on a trip.
Deadlines are given for consent and payment in all letters regarding trips. It would be appreciated if these deadlines are met to aid the smooth running of the trip.
Trip Queries
If you have any Wisepay, trip or consent queries, please send them to finance@folkestonegirls.kent.sch.uk.
Oversubscription
Where a trip is regarded as co-curricular and has a limited number of places, there can be more students who wish to go than there are places. We have to limit places on trips as they require specific staffing ratios and logistically can be challenging. Transport, accommodation and the nature of the activities/destinations can prove limiting factors.
In the event of a proposed trip, expressions of interest will be sent out via Wisepay. The expressions of interest will be collated and names will be drawn from the pool of students interested. Rather than do this entirely randomly, or on a first come, first served basis as is the case at most schools, here at FSG we take a different approach.
We track student engagement with trips across their school career so that we can prioritise those who have not yet been on a school trip over those who have; so for example given a choice of two students for a ski trip, one of whom has already been on a residential to Spain, and one who has never been on an overseas trip, we’d favour the student who had not yet been on an overseas trip over the one who had! The students selected through this process will then be eligible to proceed with the trip. Should a trip be very heavily oversubscribed we may well prioritise older year groups as this could be their last chance to attend; younger years would have further chances.
The remaining students will be drawn, placed on the waiting list, in the order they are drawn. The exception to this will be for looked after children. They will receive first refusal on any trip and will not need to be placed in the pool of expression of interest. Should they decline their place this will be available to the main pool of students. In the event a trip is undersubscribed then younger year groups may be approached.
Expressions of Interest
Expressions of interests are taken as a serious intention to commit to a school trip and we’d ask parents not to express an interest for every trip going with the intention of seeing what you get and then choosing the best offer!
If your child is offered a place on a trip, then later changes their mind and no longer wishes to take part, please email Finance (finance@folkestonegirls.kent.sch.uk) as soon as possible. We can then offer the place to the next child on the waiting list. It is always best to communicate with the Finance team and the trip leader if your child is having doubts about going on a trip - hopefully they can be allayed and your child can be included. Unfortunately, sometimes we do not know until the day of the trip that a student does not wish to go, and this causes a significant use of resources and may make trips leave late - it is particularly sad if there is a long waiting list, and another student would have loved the opportunity.
The school’s decision on which students make final trip lists will be final and we are not able to explain the reasons behind an individual student’s selection or non-selection for a trip in anything but the broadest terms.
There are situations which might influence participation on certain trips. The examples given below are not exhaustive, but show factors that can be taken into account when considering whether a student can participate in a trip:
Behaviour
Students and parents/carers should be aware that failure to comply with our school Code of Conduct and therefore to behave reasonably and responsibly in school is a strong indicator that students may fail to behave reasonably and responsibly on any school trips or adventures. Therefore, poor behaviour in school could jeopardise any student being accepted onto school trips and adventures.
Attendance
Similarly, students who have poor attendance would be de-prioritised unless there is good reason for such low levels of attendance.
Students with serious medical conditions
Well-being and inclusion in school activities are of utmost importance to us. Nonetheless there are, rightly, other considerations that will factor into decision making if there is a concern about our ability to keep a child safe. This is particularly true for residential trips and particularly so for overseas residential trips where access to medical services can be more challenging and distance from home and familiar faces obviously much greater.
Students with serious medical conditions, including mental health conditions, may be required to obtain a fit-to-travel note from a medical practitioner to comply with our school insurance. This may be required upon being selected for a trip, and again, just in advance of departure.
Even so, trip leaders, safeguarding and relevant pastoral staff will convene with the Principal to discuss their concerns and how this might, or might not, be able to be addressed or minimised and what reasonable adjustments can be made. Parents and the student concerned will also have a chance to respond by sharing what actions and reasonable adjustments they feel able to take to support. They will also consider and contribute to risk assessment processes. After having had representation from students/parents, the staff panel will reconvene. All meetings will be minuted.
The final decision will rest with the school and whilst a clear rationale for that decision will be provided, that decision will be final.
Insurance
The school has a fundamental legal obligation, to always ensure it has at all times, in all activities, whether on the school site or otherwise, Employer Liability and separate Public Liability insurance policies in place. No child can be allowed to take part in trips and outings, without full insurance cover by the schools DFE recommended insurers. This is a statutory duty and not a policy decision that the Principal is allowed to make, whatever the circumstances.