EVOLVE Advice Digest
25th April 2023

The importance of Visit Leader Training

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to ensure that their employees are provided with adequate health and safety training. Competence is a combination of skills, knowledge, awareness, judgement, training and experience. Schools must ensure they have appropriately competent visit leaders; more on this here.

Headteachers or EVCs are responsible for training, or arranging training for, their visit leaders. This should include subjects such as:

• the purpose of educational visits;

• legal expectations;

• planning and risk management;

• evaluation and monitoring;

• visit emergencies.

There are a few ways you can undertake this training :

1. Bring in an Educational Visits Adviser/Trainer to deliver this to your school;

2. Undertake Visit Leader e-Learning;

3. Deliver this yourself. We have produced a PowerPoint for you to adapt. If you would like access to this, please complete the form here.

EVOLVE Advice App

What is the impact of nature on human health? A scoping review of the literature

The burden of non-communicable diseases (including poor mental health) is increasing, and some practitioners are turning to nature to provide the solution. Nature-based interventions (NBIs) could offer cost-effective solutions by reconnecting individuals with nature, but the success of these interventions depends partially on the way in which people engage with blue and green spaces.

• 92% demonstrated consistent improvements across any health outcome where individuals engaged with natural outdoor environments.

• Mental health outcomes improved across 98% of studies while physical and cognitive health outcomes showed improvement across 83% and 75% of studies respectively.

• Additionally, we identified 153 factors affecting engagement with nature, 78% of which facilitated engagement compared with 22% that reduced engagement. Aspects such as the sense of wilderness, accessibility, opportunities for physical activity and the absence of noise/ air pollution all increased engagement.

Read the full study here

We have updated our Webinars page with a range of free webinars throughout the year to support your CPD. These webinars are open to all.

We have speakers from EVOLVE Advice, Hampshire Outdoors, eduFOCUS (Providers of EVOLVE) and the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.

Visit www.evolveadvice.co.uk/webinars for all dates.

Funding your educational visit - 3rd May 2023 - 09:30 - 10:15

The importance of monitoring and evaluation - 15th May 2023 - 09:30 - 10:15

Using EVOLVE to gather consent - 22nd May 2023 - 09:30 - 10:15

Have you heard about The Great British School Trip Competition?
Funded by Hyundai, The Great British School Trip competition is open until Friday 16th June. Don’t miss out on your chance to win a class trip with outdoor activity experts PGL! Sign up today and you will have access to free trip resources linked to the national curriculum. Plus, there are risk assessment templates, check lists and parent letters to make your school trip admin easy. 

So, what are you waiting for? Head to https://greatbritishschooltrip.com/ to find out more. 

Training Courses

Useful Links

Training Courses - EVC, Snowsport Visits, Risk Assessment.

e-Learning - Visit Leader, Preventing and Managing Visits Emergencies (PrIME)

Hampshire Outdoors Newsletter - Hampshire Outdoors produce a great newsletter full of ideas and activities called Trailblazer. It is free to access.

National Guidance - Guidance for outdoor learning and educational visits.