Chris Wilson, deputy headteacher of Hammersmith Academy and educational visits coordinator (EVC), talks to us about how they get the best value for school trips. 

Hammersmith Academy students look at designs on display at the Design Museum

Hammersmith Academy worked with the Design Museum to create a weekend takeover day where students and their families had an exclusive space and free entry to major exhibitions. 

How do you ensure that your school day trips and residentials are the best value for all involved?

A head and shoulders picture of Chris Wilson, deputy headteacher of Hammersmith Academy

Chris Wilson. 

We make sure that we research any trip or residential in detail, including speaking to other schools and educational professionals for feedback and looking at testimonials.

Each trip has to fulfil a list of criteria to ensure it is both worthwhile for the students and cost effective. All trips have to aid in students’ development, whether that be culturally, academically or personally, and it has to be demonstrable when students are back in the Academy.

For many of our parents, every penny counts so trips have to be cost effective at delivering their aims. We look at all aspects of the trip to ensure it is affordable, right down to the cost of the travel and lunch provision. Our finance team are great at cost comparing providers and always find the best prices for our families.

We subsidise trips to ensure they are affordable for pupil premium students and students who are entitled to free school meals are provided with a packed lunch for every school visit.

What advice would you give to other teachers looking at ensuring they keep their costs down but also get the most out of experiences?

The most efficient way of keeping costs down for the individual is to fill the maximum quota of participants. This spreads the costs and everyone is paying the smallest possible sum. Also, consider experiences closer to home as this will maximise the time you spend doing activities.

As we are based in London, we make full use of TfL’s School Party Travel Scheme which provides free travel for school groups. We are lucky to have many cultural centres nearby and by building important working relationships with certain venues we are able to secure free experiences.

We look at all aspects of the trip to ensure it is affordable, right down to the cost of the travel and lunch provision. 

If some experiences are just too unaffordable, it may be possible to bring it to your school. A much more cost-effective way of providing access for all.

For more expensive trips, such as overseas visits, plan it early. This locks in the overall costs early and buffers against price rises. It also gives parents plenty of time to pay in multiple small instalments.

We work with several organisations whose aim is to provide access to opportunities, often this provides us with free visits and to places that do not ordinarily hosts school trips.

Hammersmith Academy students with all their equipment during their Outward Bound residential

The Academy has run two Outward Bound trips recently, which they subsidised. 

How important is it to ensure that school trips are inclusive and how do you ensure they are?

Every student deserves the same access to opportunities and cost should not be a barrier to important experiences. We encourage all students to take part in school trips when they are offered as they are vital to personal development. Our students have been able to access work experiences or connect with key people as a direct result of trips, so we know how important these visits are for all students.

We subsidise trips to ensure they are affordable for pupil premium students and students who are entitled to free school meals are provided with a packed lunch for every school visit.

In some instances, there may be funding available for trips that are life changing and schools can research which they can apply for.

We encourage all students to take part in school trips when they are offered as they are vital to personal development. 

Could you give us some examples of day trips and residentials where you’ve got good value?

We worked with the Design Museum to create a weekend takeover day where our students and their families had an exclusive space to take part in workshops and free entry to major exhibitions. This was aimed at families who had not visited museums or art galleries before and was a fantastic way to show that these spaces are accessible. The entire day was free.

There were also two Outward Bound trips, one for Key Stage 3 and one for Key Stage 4 students. The trips were subsidised by the Academy and external funding to ensure as many students experienced being outside of a city and learn important life skills such as resilience and perseverance. We ensured Pupil Premium students received a bigger subsidy.

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