Educational trips and expeditions are an integral part of education at Malvern St James; they are used to enhance the learning experience of pupils while also educating the whole person. Pupils also have numerous travel and cultural exchanges and trips throughout the year that provide a chance to experience cultures, countries and concepts beyond the school gates. Curriculum trips are linked to learning in the classroom e.g Geography fieldtrip to and South Wales, Art Department visits to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, visits to Maths Inspiration, Natural History Museum, Bletchley Park, Theatre visits to see performances of set texts, attending lecture days at universities eg Greek Theatre Study Day and the reinforcing classroom learning about oceans at Weston Super Mare.
Some visits encourage pupils to pursue or develop interests eg biennial ski trips, trips to Wimbledon LTC, Worcestershire CC and visits to hear orchestral performances such as the CBSO. There are regular music tours, PGL visits from Prep pupils, overseas visits to France and Sapin for Key Stage 2/3 pupils, sports tours and visits to Iceland which enrich learning, cultural experiences and friendships.
The school has an appointed Educational Visits Co-ordinator, who is responsible for the proper organisation of all trips. They ensure that any trip conforms to any regulations in terms of leadership, qualifications of staff, staff/pupil ratios, risk assessment, insurance, communication, emergency procedures and so on.
Trips and visits which may have limited numbers available, tend to work on a lottery system and not first come first serve to ensure that all pupils have a chance of taking part.
The school has travel insurance which provides a range of covers for the majority of school journeys including a 24 hour Emergency Helpline. Cover includes medical expenses outside the UK, cancellation, delay, personal property whilst travelling, missed departure and has a winter sports extension. All school trips overseas are covered by this insurance.
The number and distribution of trips over year groups does change and it is not always possible to predict whether a particular trip will still be running in a few years time. The SOCS calendar gives an indication of the sheer volume of trips that the school runs each academic year.
