Make sure your volume is on: "We deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis..."

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Probably the teachers’ biggest concern is about number management and whether we have got an insight into that as well. But like you say, we've had sessions where we've had a hundred children … and every single one of those 100 children have got back on the coach again, and we've had some very happy smiling teachers! So we deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis. So I think it's just a case of the health and safety and the risk element that help the safety of the school and going into a different environment.

We abide by all of Hampshire County Council's rules and regulations on ratios and health and safety. We're all First Aid qualified. We're all qualified in different things, myself and Lottie are both bushcraft trained, we've got Atsy, who's a Forest School leader. We have the knowledge within our group, you know, we've got it.

I think when it comes to us thinking of new activities, we have to think about the activities that have worked, and that are favourites, and then we just tweak and we adapt them. The teachers, when they come on a school trip, they have got the National Curriculum to follow. And lots of teachers will be like, “We need to cover this, this and this.” And we're like, “Right, okay. Here's our list of activities that we do. Here are our firm favourites. Here are ones that maybe get put on the back burner when they're needed.” And then we just put it forward. And then teachers will confidently say to us, “Oh, well, we need to change it slightly.”

And we can tailor it. That's why we really do say, ‘Have a pre visit’, because we can sit down and the teacher will say, “Well, actually we're studying Space at the moment as well. Would you be able to include that?” And we’re like, “Well why not, we can try that!”. Generally we have come through, haven’t we?

That's why the pre visits are so important, because then we get a good idea of what the teacher wants. And also the group that we'll be working with. That's the most important thing.