School Activities-reasonable measures to ensure the safety of learners

During any school activity, the employer (school) needs to take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of learners and employees.

With regards to medical treatment, the school needs to take heed of the following:

• Ensure that parents of learners requiring medication have arranged for sufficient quantities of the medication for the duration of the activity
• Where learners have a prescription for medication, that there is a certified copy provided for both the learner’s possession and that of the supervising educator
• Parents need to report on medical conditions of the learner, in writing, to the school
• Before any school activity, the principal must inform the supervising educator of any medical conditions of the learners involved
• If learners are travelling to a high-risk disease area (such as malaria) during a school activity, parents need to be informed beforehand.
• If a learner is injured or falls ill, requiring medical attention, the supervising educator will contact the learner’s parents to obtain consent first.  If contact isn’t possible, then the supervisor will determine whether or not the medical treatment will be performed.

Before learners attend a school activity, the school must provide the parents with detailed information and request written consent.  Only learners with this consent will be allowed to participate in the activity.

When using school vehicles to transport learners to an outside activity, it needs to be ensured that these vehicles are fully insured, have roadworthy certificates, and the drivers are in possession of a valid license.

Immediately after arriving back from an activity, the supervising educator must submit a report to the head teacher, who in turn must submit it to the Department of Education and governing body.