School excursions are a great opportunity for students to practise safe behaviours in real life environments and reinforce the key road safety messages.

Excursion policy and procedures

Excursions are defined by the department's Excursion Policy.

• structured learning experiences
• determined by the principal
• managed by the school, conducted on or external to the school site.

Road safety education considerations when planning a school excursion, refer to the:

• Department's excursion planning and management (section 4, Travel)
• Variation of routine - excursions
  • approval process, checklists and forms can be located
  • scroll down to Critical requirements for transport information
• Duty of care and behaviour management (nsw.gov.au)
  • scroll down to About child restraints in motor vehicles, Buses with seat belts, and excursions
• Transport for NSW's school travel information for Opal cards and group bookings
• Before approving any excursion, principals need to ensure that staff organising excursions have completed a satisfactory risk management plan.

Advice about seatbelts for cars and buses:

• vehicles designed to seat 12 or fewer people, including the driver:
  • must wear the seatbelt provided in the vehicle
  • children under 7 years travelling in vehicles must be restrained in suitable and approved child restraints or booster seats that are properly fitted to the vehicle and adjusted to fit the child’s body correctly. More information is available from Transport for NSW
• taxis
  • children aged between 4 and 7 years of age are not required to be restrained by an approved child restraint or booster seat. Parents and carers can provide a suitable child restraint if they choose to do so.
  • By law, all passengers are required to wear a seatbelt in a taxi.
• buses carrying more than 13 people
  • When hiring buses for excursions, schools should hire buses with seatbelts, if possible, especially for long distance travel. The number of passengers in a vehicle must not exceed the number it is licensed to carry.
  • Children between 4 and 7 years of age are permitted to travel on a bus without using an approved child restraint or booster seat, e.g. public or school buses. However, schools should conduct a risk assessment to determine if this is the safest mode of transport for young children for the distance and location being travelled to/from.
• buses fitted with seatbelts:
  • Children between 4 and 7 years of age are permitted to travel on a seatbelt-fitted bus without using an approved child restraint or booster seat.
  • It is the law that a passenger must use a seatbelt on a bus if one is provided.

Sample consent forms for students in private vehicles

These sample forms are for schools to use and localise to meet the needs of their school community

• Student as driver parent consent form (DOCX 41.96 KB)
• Student as passenger parent consent form (DOCX 39.75 KB)
• Parent/staff use of private vehicle consent form (DOCX 70KB)

refer to Variation of routine- Excursions checklists forms and templates

Further information

Work Health and safety hazard Excursions - domestic factsheet (DoE - staff only)

Legal information bulletin #24 - Cars at work (DoE - staff only)

Legal information bulletin #8 – Claims for motor vehicle damage (DoE - staff only)

- Who can use their motor vehicle for department activities

- staff using their own motor vehicles

Legal information bulletin #39 – Reporting accidents (DoE - staff only)

Advice for Principals to share with school community about safe travel