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School trips | Staff to pupil ratios explained

Written on 17 June 2022

There’s often confusion and conflicting information surrounding appropriate staff to pupil ratios for educational visits.

It’s important to remember that even though there are no requirements that are prescribed in law, conducting a detailed risk assessment should provide a clear indication of the appropriate ratios required.

According to guidance from the Education Authority , supervision ratios for school trips should relate to:

• The category of educational visit;
• The specific educational objective(s); and
• The outcome of a risk assessment.

The more time the better

Determining the appropriate level of supervision well in advance of the trip taking place will allow enough time for staff to volunteer to take part in the trip. 

It will also provide plenty of notice for you to involve volunteers, e.g. parents or governors. As part of this process, you should then assign each person clearly defined roles as identified by your risk assessment.

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Carrying out a risk assessment for a school trip

There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when carrying out a risk assessment for a school trip. The safety of pupils, colleagues and volunteers should always be at the forefront of your mind throughout the process, but it is also vital to ensure your focus is on reducing real risks .

There’s often a tendency for schools to be too restrictive or simply not run a school trip due to fears of prosecution if the trip goes wrong, and the belief that a teacher will be sued if a child is injured.

Remember, you are not expected to completely eliminate all risks. A risk assessment is intended to ensure that children aren’t unnecessarily exposed to things that could cause them harm. It’s also a way of demonstrating that you have done all you can to keep them safe.

We have produced a short guide which breaks down the key information you need to know from a health and safety perspective when preparing for a school trip, which should give you some clear guidelines to work towards when completing a risk assessment.

Guide to Safe School Trips

Created by our Health & Safety specialists, this helpful guide explains how to plan and run safe and successful school trips, including getting the balance between safety and learning, low-risk vs high-risk trips, and steps to take before, during and after.

Identifying the level of supervision required

Guidance from the  Outdoor Education Advisers’ Panel  (OEAP) says that “ratios are a risk management issue, and should be determined through the process of risk assessment”. The OEAP goes on to say that “it is not possible to set down definitive staff/student ratios for a particular age group or activity, although the law does specify minimum ratios for early years”.

However, b ased on the findings of your risk assessment, you should be able to establish the staff to pupil ratio required by taking into account the following factors:

• The nature and location of activities to be undertaken;
• The age and ability of the group;
• Pupils with special educational and/or medical needs;
• Whether it is a day visit or overnight stay;
• Whether it is a mixed or single-gender group;
• The experience of supervisory staff in providing off-site supervision;
• The duration and nature of the journey;
• The type of any accommodation;
• The competence of supervisory staff, both general and in relation to specific learning activities;
• The requirements of the organisation/ location to be visited;
• The competence and behaviour of the pupils;
• The likely weather conditions and time of year;
• The duration and location of planned activities; and
• First aid cover.

Further considerations also include whether the pupils require close (direct) supervision for the duration of the visit, in which case the staff to pupil ratio will be greater. 

Alternatively, if you don’t intend for pupils to be directly in your line of vision for the duration of the trip, then less supervision will be required. However, trip leaders will still need to remain in the area in which the activity is taking place at all times.

In the event of a pupil or trip leader needing to vacate the trip early, the appropriate ratios will still need to be maintained. For example, a trip leader may need to accompany a pupil to hospital or attend a personal emergency. This should be taken into consideration when planning your visit.

High-risk activities may require direct supervision at all times and therefore a higher staff to pupil ratio should be adhered to.

Additional requirements for residential trips

Vetting procedures for volunteers.

If you’re inviting volunteers such as parents or governors to assist with supervising pupils during a school trip, then you must adhere to the DE Circular 2012/19 with regards to vetting checks for volunteers working in schools. This must be followed when arranging trips for all groups of pupils under the age of 18.

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• Education, training and skills
• Pupil wellbeing, behaviour and attendance
• Health, safety and wellbeing in schools

Health and safety on educational visits

• Department for Education

Published 26 November 2018

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2018

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] .

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-safety-on-educational-visits/health-and-safety-on-educational-visits

Types of trip

The 2 main types of trip are:

• routine visits
• trips that need a risk assessment and extra planning

Routine visits

These involve no more than an everyday level of risk, such as for slips and trips, and are covered by a school’s current policies and procedures. They only need a little extra planning beyond the educational aspect of the trip and can be considered as a lesson in a different classroom.

Trips that need a risk assessment and extra planning

These are trips not covered by a school’s current policies. This could be due to considerations such as the:

• distance from the school
• type of activity
• need for staff with specialist skills

Sometimes a school may simply need to review its current plans or arrangements that were successful on previous trips. However, some trips will need a risk assessment, detailed planning and the informed approval of the headteacher or governing board. The person given the job of managing this should:

• have the skills, status and competence needed for the job
• understand the risks involved
• be familiar with the activity

Plans should be proportionate and sensible, focusing on how to manage genuine risks.

When to seek consent from parents or carers

A school must always get written consent for nursery-age children.

For children over nursery age, written consent is not needed for most trips, as they’re part of the curriculum. However, it’s good practice to tell parents or carers about them.

Written consent is usually only needed for trips that:

• need a higher level of risk assessment
• are outside normal school hours

The school can ask parents to sign a consent form when their child enrols. This will cover them for their whole time at the school. Advice on consent forms is available on the Outdoor Education Advisers’ Panel ( OEAP ) website.

A school should still tell parents or carers about such trips and give them the opportunity to withdraw their child.

Using outside organisations

Schools using an outside organisation to provide an activity must check the organisation has appropriate safety standards and public liability insurance.

The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom ( LOtC ) awards the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge to organisations that meet nationally recognised standards.

Schools can check if an organisation holds the LOtC Quality Badge .

If an organisation does not hold the badge, the school must ensure that they’re an appropriate organisation to use. This could include checking:

• their insurance
• that they meet legal requirements
• their health and safety and emergency policies
• their risk assessments
• control measures
• their use of vehicles
• staff competence
• safeguarding
• accommodation
• any sub-contracting arrangements they have
• that they have a licence, where needed

The school should have an agreement with the organisation that makes it clear what everyone is responsible for. This is especially important if they will be taking over supervision of the children.

Adventure activities: caving, climbing, trekking and watersports

These kinds of activities should be identified and risk assessed as part of the visit beforehand. Staff managing or leading visits must not decide to add such activities during the trip. They should always consider the abilities of the children when assessing risk.

Organisations need a licence to provide some adventure activities. Organisations that hold the LOtC Quality Badge should hold a licence for the activity they provide.

Information about licensing is available on the Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) website.

Watersports

When planning watersports, schools should consider the need for:

• instructors

A school should take particular care when using hotel swimming pools and other water-based leisure facilities that may not have a trained lifeguard on duty. Although there are no swimming-pool-specific health and safety laws, the OEAP provides useful advice about undertaking adventure specialist activities, including swimming.

Trips abroad

Trips abroad can present extra risks and need a higher level of risk assessment.

Schools should make sure that any organisation providing activities holds the LOtC Quality Badge or similar local accreditation.

The HSE does not cover incidents overseas. However, it can investigate work carried out in Britain to support the trip, such as a risk assessment. School staff could be liable under civil law for any injuries to the children due to negligence.

If the trip includes significant risks, such as challenging terrain, a remote location or an extreme climate, a school should follow the guide to the British Standard for adventurous activities outside the United Kingdom as the basis for its planning and risk assessment. Organisations employed by the school should follow this, too. If they have a LOtC Quality Badge, they follow this standard.

Schools should consider the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s detailed guidance on safer adventure travel and volunteering overseas and foreign travel advice when organising a visit abroad.

Knowing what to do in an emergency

Schools should have an emergency response plan that covers what to do if there is an incident away from school. They should also have a communications plan that covers how routine communications should be handled, including regular check-ins and calls to reassure people. Trip leaders should be familiar with the plan.

Schools can get advice on creating a communications plan from their outdoor activity adviser or the OEAP website .

Evaluating trips

A school should set up a clear process for evaluating all visits once they have been concluded, from the planning through to the visit itself. It should keep a record of any incidents, accidents and near-misses.

This will help it:

• evaluate whether its planning has worked
• learn from any incidents which took place

Educational visits coordinators

Schools should appoint an educational visits coordinator and make sure they have the training they need. The headteacher assumes this duty if there is no coordinator. Local authorities or academy trust outdoor education advisers can advise on appointing and training coordinators.

The coordinator works with the outdoor education adviser to help their colleagues in school to assess and manage risks.

The coordinator should:

• be an experienced visits leader
• have the status to be able to guide the working practices of other staff
• be confident in assessing the ability of other staff to lead visits
• be confident in assessing outside activity providers
• be able to advise headteachers and governors when they’re approving trips
• have access to training, advice and guidance

Guidance is also available on the OEAP website .

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Staff-student ratios: effective supervision for educational visits

‘What is the ratio?’ is one of the most common questions EVOLVE Advice are asked about. Jake Wiid explains the answer. 

Decisions on effective levels of supervision must be discussed with, and approved by, the EVC and headteacher, says Jake. 

Imagine the scenario: you’ve been tasked with taking a group of 26 year 10 students on a geography field trip to Iceland. It’s a five-day visit at a busy time of year. Your headteacher wants to know how many staff they need to arrange cover for. How do you calculate the staff-student ratio?

Actually, that’s a trick question. Specific ratios have been almost completely phased out of guidance (aside from the EYFS Framework); however, ‘What is the ratio?’ is still one of the most common questions we’re asked as advisers.

A number alone does not keep children safe

The concept of ratios has evolved, recognising the need for flexibility, individual risk assessment and other factors. Adequate supervision remains a critical factor in keeping educational visits safe and enjoyable, but a number alone does not keep children safe. Fewer, more competent staff may provide a safer environment than a larger number of less competent staff.

A better question would be: how many supervising adults do you need to ensure there is effective supervision?

The responsibility lies with the visit leader, EVC and head of the establishment, in consultation with colleagues such as designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), to determine an appropriate level of supervision for that particular group and activity. The experience and competence of staff and other adults involved in the visit are a key factor in maintaining safety.

A quick guide to calculating effective supervision :

• We recommend using the STAGED approach as a framework for considering all the factors involved: Staffing, Transport, Activity, Group, Environmental conditions, and Distance from school.
• Identifying a starting point for your staffing levels can help support the decision-making process. Any deviation from this number, particularly if it results in fewer staff, should be considered, and documented.
• It is important that individual 1:1 support staff are not included in the overall staffing levels. Their responsibility is to the individual they are supporting, not the wider group.

Jake recommends asking the question about how many supervising adults you need to ensure there is effective supervision. 

Everyone involved must use their professional judgment and if any of these individuals are not satisfied with the supervision arrangements, the visit should not go ahead.

Finally, always speak to your Educational Visits Adviser if you are unsure or need support with effective supervision. There are no silly questions when it comes to keeping children and young people safe on educational visits.

Fewer, more competent staff may provide a safer environment than a larger number of less competent staff.

The 3Cs – a useful decision-making tool

Competence – of all the staff, including volunteers and helpers

Capacity – are there sufficient staff to manage the group and specific needs?

Contingency – what is the plan if there is an unexpected development?

Search for ‘ratios’ to find OEAP National Guidance at oeapng.info

EVOLVE Advice provides training, advice, guidance and online systems to over 3,000 schools, trusts and local authorities. Find out more at www.evolveadvice.co.uk  

More from Jake Wiid

How to prevent incidents and manage emergencies on visits

Weighing up the cost and benefits of a school trip abroad

Ways schools can reduce their environmental impact when travelling

• EVOLVE Advice

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Posted: 07 March 2022

What Is The Ratio Of Adults To Pupils On A School Trip?

When it comes to planning your school trip, one of the first things you’ll need to think about is the ratio of adults to students in order to provide appropriate supervision.

What is the ratio of teachers to pupils on a school trip?

There is nothing prescribed in law to dictate the ratio of teachers (or other adults) to children on a school trip. But, as you will be in loco parentis, you will want to ensure that there are enough adults to supervise the children effectively.

We recommend a ratio of one adult to ten children (1:10) for day trips or one adult to eight children (1:8) for multi-day trips - for both primary and secondary schools alike. This ratio is accounted for in our quotes, but it's not a problem if you require more adults.

One consideration is that your employer or Local Education Authority may already specify minimum school trip ratios. If this is the case, then you must follow their guidance.

If this is not the case, then there are a few things that you should think about before determining your ideal ratio of adults to children. Essentially, it should be part of your risk assessment. The Outdoor Education Adviser's Panel National Guidance OEAP NG (OEAP NG) advises that you will need to consider the following:

• Group Characteristics

Environment

You will need to think about the staff members who would be available to accompany your trip. And in doing so, you will also need to think about their abilities and experience.

There is no requirement for children to be accompanied by staff of the same sex, but when this is not the case, you will need to think about the potential issues that might arise around privacy, safeguarding and pastoral support.

You can take staff members whose child is in the party, but you will then need to think about the fact that they might be distracted by the needs of their child and this could impede their ability to effectively supervise the rest of the party.

You could mitigate this by ensuring the parent does not have direct supervision responsibility for their own child or, if this is not possible, perhaps ensuring that other staff members are available to supervise the group should that staff member be distracted by the needs of their own child.

You will also need to think about what might happen if a leader becomes ill, injured or otherwise indisposed, perhaps dealing with a student who has become ill or injured, for example. You will still need to have enough members of staff to adequately supervise the group.

You will need to think about the activities that you want the group to take part in.

You should always include at least one member of staff who is first aid trained.

And you should take into account the experience of staff members. For example, there may be some activities you wish to take part in where inexperienced staff may be more appropriately considered as participants, rather than leaders.

Group characteristics

The characteristics of the group are a huge consideration when determining your adult-to-child ratios.

Things you will need to consider include:

• The age of your students
• Their abilities, behaviour and maturity
• The gender make-up of the group
• Any other specific individual needs, including allergies, dietary requirements, medication, and special educational needs.

Because the group characteristics will change with every single group, you will need to go through this process of determining the ratio of adults to children every time you plan a trip, even if it is a trip that you regularly run.

Finally, it is incredibly important to consider the environment of your school trip.

Is it in the UK or abroad? Are you going to an urban or remote location? Will it be quiet or crowded? Are there any extremes of weather you need to consider? What might the terrain be like? How easy will it be to communicate with your school and school tour operator should you need to?

Don’t forget to think about the accommodation arrangements and any environments you will need to pass through too.

Unless you request otherwise, we usually include in our quotes free staff place ratios of 1:10 for school day trips and 1:8 for multi-day school trips.

Of course, if you need more accompanying staff, that’s not a problem, it may just increase the price per person slightly.

If you do require more accompanying staff, please contact your Travel Adviser, and they will be very pleased to help.

We hope you find this guide helpful. For more information on the risk assessment process, please see our guide to risk assessments .

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Adult to child ratios for working with children

Guidance on supervision levels for safeguarding children and young people.

When working with children and young people, you must make sure you have enough staff and volunteers to keep children safe. 

Adult to child ratios are different depending on the children and young people in your group, your setting and the activities you're carrying out. You must also ensure adults are suitable to undertake the tasks you need.

Supervision levels will vary depending on the children's age, gender, behaviour and the abilities in your group.

How many adults you need also depends on:

• the nature and duration of activities
• the competence and experience of staff involved
• location, accommodation or organisational requirements
• any special medical needs
• any specialist equipment needed.

Deciding appropriate levels of supervision

Carry out a risk assessment of the activities you are planning, taking the issues above into consideration. This will help you decide how many adults you need and what skills and experience they should have.

> Find out more about running safer activities and events

Who is suitable to supervise children?

You should carry out a range of safer recruitment processes and checks to ensure you employ the right people to work or volunteer in roles that have contact with children.

The types of checks needed will depend on the nature of the work being carried out, and whether or not the work will be supervised by other staff members.

It's important to make sure:

• all adults who have contact with children understand and agree to follow your safeguarding policy and procedures
• any staff or volunteers who have only had the checks required to work with children while supervised aren't left alone with a child.

If you work in performing arts you should make sure chaperones have the relevant licences.

> Find out more about safer recruitment including vetting and barring checks

> Find out more about safeguarding in the performing arts

What adults supervising children need to know

Staff and volunteers need to have:

• an understanding of their responsibility to keep children and young people safe
• clear procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child's wellbeing
• insurance for certain activities
• codes of practice which they understand and agree to follow.

Parents who attend activities with their children should not be used to supervise other children unless they have been recruited into the role, undergone the necessary checks and had the relevant child protection training.

> Find out more about safeguarding procedures

> Look at our example behaviour code

> Learn more about child protection training requirements for education and early years sectors

> Find out more about our introductory child protection training

Schools are expected to carry out their own risk assessment at the beginning of each academic year to determine appropriate levels of supervision for each class except the Early years and foundation stage.

The National Education Union (NEU) provides guidance on class sizes and advises schools to consider children’s emotional, behavioural and special needs when determining staff to child ratios (NEU, 2019).

Schools also need to carry out a risk assessment to determine appropriate adult to child ratios at breaks and lunchtimes. Things to consider include:

• the layout of the playground
• the number of children on the playground
• the ages of the children on the playground.

For children in the Early years and foundation stage there is specific guidance about supervision ratios - find out more in the section below.

In England , the Department for Education (DfE) publishes  guidance for early years providers which sets out statutory requirements about adult to child ratios (DfE, 2023). The required adult to child ratios vary depending on the setting and the age of children.

Key points for all early years settings include:

• staffing arrangements must meet the needs of all children and ensure their safety
• children must usually be within both sight and hearing of staff and always within at least either sight or hearing
• only those aged 17 or over may be included in ratios (and staff under 17 should be supervised at all times)
• students on long term placements, volunteers and staff working as apprentices may be included in the ratios if they are old enough and the provider is satisfied that they are competent and responsible.

Pages 28-32 of the guidance set out the statutory staff to child ratios for all providers and then specific guidance for:

• early years providers other than childminders
• those providing before and after school care
• those providing holiday care
• childminders.

In Northern Ireland , the Department of Health, (DoH) has published minimum standards for childminding and daycare for children under 12 (PDF) (DoH, 2018). Standard 11 sets out the minimum staff to child ratios for children of different ages in different settings. 

In Scotland , there is guidance from the Care Inspectorate for early learning and childcare settings (Care Inspectorate, 2018). It sets out adult to child ratios and the rationale behind them.

In Wales , the Welsh Government has published National minimum standards for regulated childcare (PDF). Standard 15 sets out staffing ratios including for childminders and day care.

There is no specific guidance about supervision ratios for organisations that are not in the education or early years sectors. We’ve put together some best practice guidance to help other organisations work out how many adults are needed to supervise children safely.

We recommend having at least two adults present when working with or supervising children and young people. We recommend the following adult to child ratios as the minimum numbers to help keep children safe:

• under 2 years - one adult to three children
• 2 - 3 years - one adult to four children
• 4 - 8 years - one adult to six children
• 9 - 12 years - one adult to eight children
• 13 - 18 years - one adult to ten children

Depending on the needs and abilities of the children, and the nature of the activity, you may need to have more adults than the minimum.

We recommend having at least two adults present, even with smaller groups.

If young people are helping to supervise younger children only people aged 18 or over should be included as adults when calculating adult to child ratios.

Children who have special educational needs, additional needs and disabilities

If you are working with children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) or additional needs you may need more supervision than the minimum ratios above.

You should carry out a risk assessment for each activity to help you decide on supervision ratios. This should take account of children and young people’s behaviour, ability and mobility. As far as possible, include input from children and young people and their parents and carers in risk assessments to ensure children’s needs are met.

> Learn more about protecting d/Deaf and disabled young people

Toilet ratios

If the group has both boys and girls there should be at least one male and one female responsible adult supervising visits to the toilet.

Adults who haven't previously volunteered and haven't had the necessary vetting checks shouldn't be left alone with children or take them to the toilet unaccompanied.

In larger groups of children, encourage groups to take a comfort break together with one responsible adult while the other adult(s) supervises the remaining children and keep a head count.

First aid ratios

We recommend that at least one adult is trained in first aid.

If you're running one-off events you will need to carry out a first-aid and medical risk assessment. Many organisations provide medical services but ensure the organisation you select is competent, trained in first aid and able to cope with the demands of your event.

Travelling ratios

When travelling with children and young people the recommended adult to child ratio can vary depending on:

• size of the group
• age of the children, their behaviours and needs
• size of the vehicle that you are travelling in.

If you are travelling in a vehicle it is recommended that there is one adult driving and one adult supervising the children. Larger groups and vehicles will require more adults to ensure adequate supervision. 

Care Inspectorate (2018) Guidance on adult to child ratios in early learning and childcare settings (PDF). Dundee: Care Inspectorate.

Department for Education (DfE) (2023)   Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework . [Accessed 17/08/2023].

Department of Health (DoH) (2018)   Minimum standards for childminding and day care for children under age 12 (PDF)   Belfast: Department of Health (DoH).

National Education Union (NEU) (2019)   Class sizes . [Accessed 17/08/2023].

Welsh Government (2023) National minimum standards for regulated childcare for children up to the age of 12 years (PDF). Cardiff: Welsh Government.

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• School Residential Trips A Primary Teachers Guide

School residential trips – a primary teacher’s guide

Pack plastic bags, and don’t EVER say ‘ghost’…

The primary residential: undoubtedly the highlight of school for a lot of children. For staff? Well, it can range from sheer horror at the thought of having to tend to a class in your pyjamas, to absolute delight because you get to have a go at all the things you haven’t attempted since your own residential: Leap of Faith, here I come! There is certainly a lot of fun to be had, but careful planning is a must.

Here are a few hints and tricks to make sure this milestone event is remembered for all the right reasons.

Plan of action

Covering all bases in terms of planning and preparing this military operation is probably the most daunting aspect of organising a residential, but it shouldn’t put anyone off.

These kinds of trips generally need booking quite far in advance – particularly if you have a date in mind in the warmer months. Start by gathering the information needed before any plans are shared with children and parents.

Know what the content of your trip will involve and ensure that the provider sends you all necessary risk assessments – you will need these for most outdoor activities but the good news is, they’ve already been done for you!

Remember to also have something in place to cover any risks associated with transport. After this comes costings: work out how much the trip will cost per child, taking into account accommodation, activities and transport.

Then find out if, and how much, your school is prepared to subsidise. Keep an ongoing document to track deposits and payments towards costs, and use a cashless system to facilitate this if you want to avoid children bringing money into school and dealing with the drama when they’ve lost it on the playground – been there, done that!

I find it useful to make my own plan of action so I know what needs doing and by when (risk assessments, numbers confirmed with provider and deposits paid, etc.) I’d also recommend using your school calendar to display deadlines and alert you (and others involved) when the time draws near.

Wet wipes and plastic bags

Next on the agenda is people organisation. First collect in your confirmed numbers of students wanting to participate and check guidance on the ratio of adults to children (generally 1:10 for KS2).

You will need to know about any medical conditions, medications needed and food requirements, so ensure that you communicate the importance of this with parents and have a log of who needs what and when they need it.

Prepare to be a walking pharmacy as actual medication should be handed to staff in a clear plastic bag with name and dosage information clearly labelled. In addition to this, it is a good idea to send out kit lists in good time so parents can be prepared and make necessary purchases. As a member of staff, wet wipes and plastic bags are a must!

Be clear on expectations prior to the trip, specify what they can and can’t bring (money, electronics, extra snacks) and make sure that this is conveyed to parents.

Whether you use social media or your school’s website, prepare a way to communicate with parents while you’re there because they’ll want to see photographs and know how everyone is.

Safety and sweets

Safety offsite is always a worry for staff. It is helpful to know that classes are generally broken down into smaller groups on a residential so individual staff are responsible for fewer children.

I would recommend having them in pairs at all times and conduct head counts at the start and end of every activity. Know who is in every room/dormitory as there will likely be some squabbling over this and some wanting to swap halfway through after a fall out over sweets or something equally as trivial.

To avoid theatrics, I would advise the tactic of allowing everyone to choose one friend they would like in their rooms and allocate based on how well you know the children and their friendship groups, but don’t give them too many options – let them know which room they are in once they arrive so the buzz of being there takes over.

Despite there being a lot to consider and manage before and during a residential, it is one of the most beneficial things a child can do during their school career. They get to partake in new experiences, challenge themselves and be proud of achievements that aren’t just academic.

Building confidence, self-esteem and teamwork skills are all additional advantages that make the experience so worthwhile and, as a teacher, you get to see a whole new side of the children you think you know so well. You might also find that they have a newfound respect for you, unless you completely embarrass yourself by capsizing a canoe into a duck pond… yes, I did. In the end, everything boils down to allowing children to make memories – with you and with their friends – and it is completely and utterly worth every second of planning and preparation you put in to making it happen for them.

One last thing: if you want any attempt at a full night of sleep, do not under any circumstances, mention the G word (ghost). Be brave, be bold, have fun, and bring extra coffee… just in case!

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School Trips - ratio calculator

Subject: Whole school

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25 July 2023

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This excel document will help you have the correct amount of adults needed for a school trip.

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Knowledge Bank - Leadership

Staff to pupil ratio laws for primary schools in the uk.

The DfE says that ratios of staff to pupils specified in the EYFS framework apply at all times, including breaks and lunchtimes.

See the report link opposite ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’ (page 17 onwards).

For children aged three and over in maintained nurseries or nursery classes in maintained schools (except in reception classes), the requirement is that:

•  There must be at least one member of staff for every 13 children
• At least one member of staff must be a ‘school teacher’
• At least one member of staff must hold a relevant level-3 qualification

The required presence of a ‘school teacher’ is an addition to the 2012 statutory framework. However, the revised EYFS does not change the position on breaks, short-term absence and non-contact time.

The minimum ratio (one member of staff for every 13 children) must be maintained, but teachers are not necessarily required to be present during breaks and lunchtimes.

Headteachers should exercise their professional judgement in determining what cover is required.

Staff to pupil ratios at breaks for children outside the EYFS:

The DfE does not set a minimum supervision ratio for breaks and lunchtimes for pupils who are no longer in the EYFS. This includes reception classes in which the majority of children will reach the age of five, six, or seven during the course of the school year.

The number and type of staff (teachers, teaching assistants or midday supervisors) on duty at any one time should be determined after a risk assessment. There is no specific requirement for staff on duty to be qualified teachers or support staff with certain qualifications. However, this should be taken into account in the risk assessment.

For other Key Stages, and in most reception classes, the number of staff on duty should be determined by a risk assessment.

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Frampton Cotterell Church of England Primary School "becoming the Best we can through Faith, Friendship and Participation"

School Trips

Every year, class teachers endeavour to arrange a variety of trips, and contact and invite visitors to come.  Both trips and visits are designed to match the children's topics, interests and areas of learning.  (Please see the curriculum page for more information about topics.)

Before each trip, the class teachers make a preliminary visit to the venue, and then prepare a risk assessment.

Children are supervised by their teachers, and the ratios set out by the Department for Education are always adhered to, or exceeded.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the ratio is xxxx; in Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Year 3 - 1 adult to 6 children and in Years 4, 5 and 6 - 1 adult to 15 children.  Parents often like to help on trips, and are very welcome.  At some venues, there are additional staff who may be teaching the children knowledge or skills, for instance workshops, or guided tours.  However, these staff are additional to the ratio numbers.

We have qualified first aiders, who also accompany the children on trips.  Many of the venues we visit also have their own first aiders and first aid facilities.

We often request a voluntary contribution towards the cost of the trip, and this can be paid by cheque or cash to the front office, or via our SIMS Agora facility.

If you would like any further information, please contact the school.

We also invite visitors to our school who bring opportunities for the children to explore different activities and experiences.  Our visitors are CRB checked.

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Teaching Ratio And Proportion KS2: A Guide For Year 6 Teachers

Neil Almond

Ratio and proportion in KS2 maths appear only in Year 6, but just as with other advanced topics such as algebra, it is essential pupils can approach it with confidence in their Key Stage 2 maths SATS. This blog will help you ensure that your pupils can do just that. 

The National Curriculum of 2014 brought with it a dedicated section for Ratio and Proportion into the program of study at Year 6 only.

While some of the objectives within the National Curriculum may seem convoluted (and perhaps to some fear-inducing) there is no need to worry, as students will have come across many of the ideas in previous years without it being made explicit.

Teaching Ratio and Proportion in KS2

Ratio and proportion year 6 , ratio and proportion lessons year 6, ratio and proportion problems year 6, ratio and proportion: reasoning and problem solving year 6, what is ratio and proportion.

Ratio describes how the amounts of two things compare to one another, while proportion describes an amount of something. Kieran Mackle in his book Tackling Misconceptions in Primary Mathematics (2017) writes that ‘ratio describes the quantitive relationship between two amounts and essentially shows the number of times one value contains or is contained within the other while proportion refers to a part, share, or number considered in comparative relation to a whole.’ (P.93)

The objectives that need to be met specifically reference the use of prior knowledge of shape, multiplication and division facts, percentages, fractions and multiples. Given the relationship between ratio and proportion and these other curriculum areas, it makes sense to ensure that students are fluent in these areas before teaching ratio and proportion. 

Remember, getting the prerequisite knowledge for a topic to a degree of fluency (when you no longer have to give attention) will aid the learning of the new material that is being taught as it frees up vital working memory with which students can think mathematically about the new material. 

Looking to get your pupils caught up in this prerequisite knowledge? Check out the other blogs in our series on KS2 maths , including teaching place value , fractions KS2 , and teaching decimals . 

As ever, the teacher who possesses excellent pedagogical content knowledge will be able to demonstrate the conceptual mathematics behind ratio and proportion and, with the use of careful language and manipulatives, demonstrate those underlying structures to the pupils and relate it to previous learning.

An excellent manipulative to demonstrate ratio and proportion would be Cuisenaire rods and as pictorial representation, the bar model . 

Independent Recap Ratio and Proportion Worksheets

Download for FREE this pack of four ratio and proportion worksheets for Year 6 pupils. Intended to provide opportunities for pupils to independently practise what they've been learning.

When beginning this unit, getting the language and vocabulary of ratio correct is absolutely key to being successful in this unit. Children need a clear understanding of what the ratio symbol means, ideally this begins to be implemented before the students have even seen the symbol.

Using the phrase ‘__ for every __’ consistently is a good way to build up this understanding. As this series may have taught you, I advocate the use of  manipulatives in the classroom to support conceptual understanding all the way up through to Year 6 and beyond and the using representations that the students are familiar with will help this conceptual understanding come about even faster.

In the National Curriculum for maths in England, for each area of maths outlined, there is both a statutory requirement and a non-statutory requirement. The statutory requirements in KS2 maths are as follows:

• Solve problems involving the relative sizes of 2 quantities where missing values can be found by using integer multiplication and division facts
• Solve problems involving the calculation of percentages [for example, of measures and such as 15% of 360] and the use of percentages for comparison
• solve problems involving similar shapes where the scale factor is known or can be found
• solve problems involving unequal sharing and grouping using knowledge of fractions and multiples

Non-statutory notes and guidance suggest: 

• Pupils recognise proportionality in contexts when the relations between quantities are in the same ratio (for example, similar shapes and recipes).
• Pupils link percentages or 360° to calculating angles of pie charts.
• Pupils should consolidate their understanding of ratio when comparing quantities, sizes and scale drawings by solving a variety of problems. They might use the notation a:b to record their work.
• Pupils solve problems involving unequal quantities, for example, ’for every egg you need 3 spoonfuls of flour’, ‘3/5 of the class are boys’. These problems are the foundation for later formal approaches to ratio and proportion.

An ideal way to introduce ratio in a meaningful, and relevant context that students would have prior knowledge of would be creating squash where they experiment with different ratios of squash to water. Making mocktails is also another popular activity.

Though I feel that it is best used once students have a greater understanding of ratio as mocktails can introduce three values into the ratio (1:4:6). Beginning with squash allows for a ratio that contains only two values which is a logical first step.

That said, we need to take heed of the lessons from cognitive science and episodic and semantic memory. Learning in this way can lead to strong episodic memory – where the students will talk about that time they made squash during a maths lesson but the actual conceptual understanding of ratio will not be remembered as students were thinking about the ratio of squash to water.

Therefore, before allowing students to take part in such an activity, it is important that they are first asked to think carefully about ratio. Cuisenaire rods and other teaching resources allow the teacher to guide a students understanding of ratio in a concrete way which should then be supplemented by images where it is possible to find different ratios. For example:

Using the Cuisenaire rods allows for these ratios to be made. When explaining the relationship of the rods and how they relate to ratio, using language like ‘1 for every 2’ consistently will be key (note that on most cuisenaire rods the values are not shown, these are there simply for demonstrative purposes).

Creating contexts for these ratios are also beneficial. If you look at the second ratio as demonstrated by the rods, you could put this into the context of fruit and say for every two red apples there are 3 green apples etc.

The last example of the rods is an important one as the ratio is still 5 for every 8 but this is simply repeated. This lays some foundational thinking for equivalent ratios; pupils can learn that ratio has a lowest term (simplest form) and that 10:16 = 5:8. I would not make this explicit in the first lesson however. 

Giving students the opportunity to experience thinking about ratio by manipulating the Cuisenaire rods is also important so you may verbally want to give a ratio and get the students to demonstrate this using the rods. 

Once you are happy that students have some conceptual understanding of ratio, you could move them onto the squash problem. To ensure that they remain thinking about the ratio, you could get them to draw each ratio of water to squash they try to until they have found their preferred taste.

As it would be down to personal taste, there would be no set answer but the picture below would be an example of how a student could set this out. You would need to make sure they are consistent with what each part is e.g. the bottom rod always represents the water and the top rod always represents the squash.

You would also have to ensure consistency of what each part of the ratio represents. I have found each part representing 50ml has been effective in the past.  

Getting students to generalise and identifying relationships are an important part of a mathematical education and this activity allows for this. As a teacher, I would be asking what they notice about the strength of the drink and how this varies depending on the ratio of water to squash.

Nutty Mixture  from Nrich provides a good ratio word problem that students would be expected to solve by the end of the unit on ratio. They can use manipulatives to help them solve or, if feeling more confident, a bar model.

Rachel has a bag of nuts.

For every cashew nut in the bag, there are two peanuts.

There are 8 cashews in Rachel’s bag. How may peanuts are there?

Marianne also has a bag of nuts.

In Marianne’s bag, for every two cashew nuts, there are three peanuts.

Marianne’s bag contains 12 peanuts in total. How many cashews are in her bag?

Rachel and Marianne decide to mix their bags of nuts together.

What is the ratio of cashew nuts to peanuts in the mix? 

The above can be solved by creating a train using the Cuisenaire rods and creating additional markings to distinguish the same rod being used for a different type of nut.

From this representation you can see that for the 8 cashew nuts, there would be 16 peanuts in Rachel’s bag. In Marianne’s bag, there would be 8 cashew nuts in total. To solve the final part of the question, you would need to bring one proportion of Rachel’s and one proportion of Marianne’s together and combine the cashew and peanut quantities together.

Students could then experiment which two rods are equivalent to the amount of cashews and which rod is equivalent to the amount of peanuts. The ratio of the combined bag is 4:7.

See more: 15 ratio and proportion questions

It is important that we do not just use one representation with students as they will find it difficult to transfer their learning into new contexts; use multiple representations.

This ratio problem uses different colour counters and a series of statements that the students need to prove are either true of false. The answers are in brackets after the statement.

• For every yellow counter there are 8 red counters (False)
• For every 4 red counters there is 1 yellow counter (True)
• For every 3 yellow counters there would be 12 red counters (True)
• For every 16 counters, 4 would be yellow and 12 would be red (False)
• For every 20 counters, 4 would be yellow and 16 would be red (True)

Encouraging students to draw or use counters for each statement that require it should be encouraged as it demonstrates to you what it is they are thinking and will allow you to pick up any misconceptions in their understanding and correct them immediately.

Ratio and proportion is a complex topic, and one introduced late on in KS2. Hopefully this post has given you some good ideas to help your pupils approach it with confidence.

For guidance on other KS2 subjects, check out the rest of the series:

• Teaching Decimals KS2
• Teaching Place Value KS2
• Teaching Fractions KS2
• Teaching Percentages KS2
• Teaching Statistics KS2
• Teaching Multiplication KS2
• Teaching Division KS2
• Teaching Addition and Subtraction KS2
• Teaching Geometry – Position, Direction and Coordinates KS2
• Teaching Properties of Shapes KS2

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