Friday, June 9, 2023

NNDSB upgrades school trip consent forms

Near North District School Board (NNDSB) has revamped and revolutionized the way it informs families of the details and risks of school trips.

School trip preparedness plans or STPs have been created in conjunction with Bill Steer, part-time faculty member with the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University. The STPs are much more than just consent forms.

NNDSB Safe Schools Principal Emily Samuel says STPs are “grounded in informed parent/guardian consent. We want to identify the inherent and real risks of a school trip and how to mitigate them in a way that’s easy to understand and accessible for parents. In this way parents can be sure what the risks are before agreeing to allow their child to participate.”

STPs are easy to understand, highly visual and contain all the information families might need to grant informed consent. The documents also contain additional information such as Google map links or GPS coordinates for pick up and drop off points as well as mustering areas in the event of an emergency.

School trip preparedness plans have been incorporated into NNDSB’s School Trips Administrative Guideline to set the expectation of what documents and information are required for trip organizers to receive informed parent/guardian consent.

Families can learn more about student trip preparedness plans by watching this short video.

Nipissing University is offering a trip preparedness course that is open to anyone. People working in the fields of education, outdoor education and youth development  or programming can learn more in the Trip Preparedness course.

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