chester zoo school trip risk assessment

Today's Announcements

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please be aware that the Meerkat Play Area will be CLOSED on Wednesday 1st May 2024 due to essential maintenance work.

Visits between 15th April and 18th May 2024

From 15th April 2024, you may experience heavy traffic around the surrounding area on your journey home due to planned roadwork closures along the A12 southbound carriageway between J26 Stanway and J25 Marks Tey. Route diversions will be in place but traffic may be increased due to this.

Find out more here .

ADVANCED NOTICE: Please be aware that our indoor soft play, Jungle Tumble, will be closed on the following dates due to annual maintenance and a thorough deep clean.

• Tuesday 7th May to Friday 10th May 2024
• Monday 13th May to Friday 17th May 2024

Go digital and download the Colchester Zoo App. Find out more here

Risk Assessments

School Risk Assessments

Zoo responsibilities:.

Colchester Zoo’s risk assessment guidance sheet provides a general outline of potential risks and controls. These are guidelines only and  all organisers are recommended to complete their own risk assessment prior to a school visit.  Two free familiarisation tickets can be requested for this purpose after you have made a school booking.

Click here to open the GENERAL VISIT RISK ASSESSMENT in a new window

Click here to open the EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS RISK ASSESSMENT in a new window

If required, provided is a letter which includes a description of Colchester Zoo’s Public Liability Insurance: Click here to open the   Public Liability Document  in a new window.

Colchester Zoo has policies and procedures in place for emergency situations, including (but not limited to): Lost Child, Fire , and Animal Escape . For safeguarding, security, and safety reasons we are unable to share these specific policies and procedures. In the event of any emergency, please find the nearest member of staff, all of whom are trained on these procedures.

Teacher Responsibilities:

Teachers and supporting adults are responsible for the behaviour of students towards  animals, staff, and other visitors.

• Students in years  Reception to Year 9  must be supervised at all times.
• All students must be supervised when attending educational sessions.
• Teachers must ensure appropriate hygiene when students are in contact with animals.
• Teachers are responsible to ensure  all students follow instructions and rules .

Play areas are  not supervised  by Colchester Zoo staff and are open to general visitors. Teachers are responsible for supervising any students who are eligible to use the play area.  It is the teacher’s responsibility to  ensure students do not use play areas  they are not allowed on.

• Nursery and Primary school groups can use any  outdoor play areas between 12 and 2pm.
• Secondary school students and older are not allowed on any play area  at any time.
• No schools are permitted to use the indoor Jungle Tumble play area.
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Book your EDUCATIONAL VISIT

Inspire your learners with an amazing trip to chester zoo, complete the booking form by clicking on the link below, online booking form.

IN ZOO EDUCATION VISIT PRICES

Off Peak : Monday 4 September 2023 – Friday 24 May 2024 Peak : Monday 27th May 2024 – Friday 30th August 2024

ACCOMPANYING ADULT RATIOS

IN ZOO WORKSHOP PRICES 2024

We can bring the magic of the zoo to you with our outreach sessions.

OUTREACH WORKSHOPS 2023 – 2024

To check availability and to book, please contact [email protected]

Let our experts take you on a live virtual journey!

Download your booking form here

VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS 2022 – 2023

More questions about our zoo experiences? Check out our FAQs here

Did you know that we have lots of FREE learning resources?

What else do we offer.

Whether you want to visit the zoo, have us come to your school or you want to sign up for our virtual zoo visits – or all three – we’re sure we’ve got an offer that will suit your needs.  Our team are always happy to help with any enquiries you may have too.

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We have all the information you need for an inspirational day out – get in touch with our team if you need any help with booking or to find out more about our EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES .

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Pre visit - risk assessment for school... - Chester Zoo

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Pre visit - risk assessment for school trip

Didn’t think it would be so busy with it being Mother’s Day but it was! I downloaded the zoo app which was great because it pinpointed where you where. The zoo is big and I don’t think it is the easiest place to navigate. I feel the pavements could be utilised more to guide people. I had the sole purpose to plan my route to take my class next week. There are plenty of play areas, toilets and places to get food. I bought a coffee and it was £2.30 so not mega expensive. Did not pay attention to how much the food was. I enjoyed seeing all the animals but the orangatans looked depressed and it made me question zoos for larger animals, maybe their enclosures should be bigger and the lions instead of having a rack of ribs attached to a log get to hunt their prey. Maybe I’ve just watched too many wildlife programmes And I have become cynical. That being said, A great day out for the family and a class full of 7/8 year olds !!! Looking forward to seeing their faces next week.

We visit here all time kids love it and never get bored my mum always says to me how do we not get boreed of the same all time but its not the place is constantly improving and changing and we dont viait all animals when we go we do diffrent roots and there are lots of diffrent olay areas too.

Sadly, it was raining all the time we were there, but we were stil able to glimpse animals inside their enclosures.

I enjoyed the zoo. But the signage needs some work. Having gone to several of the UK’s zoos, it’s perplexing to see so many one away systems and minimal signage. We tried getting to the island but the signs just give up after a short time. It could benifit from signs at most of the crossroads for more locations than just two animals. Back to the positives. Although some of the animals weren’t available or visible (which is understandable) your still pressed for time to see everything which is great. The animals are clearly well cared for and we’re chilling in the rare Uk sun. There were plenty of food stops and refreshment stop. A worthwhile trip while in Chester for any age all in all

This was a birthday treat for my 20yr old son! There's loads to see here with a huge variety of animals both large and small. One of my favourite aspects was that you get to see animals from different view points. Sometimes you might be on a high walk way, other times you're treated to underground views - however it also made me wonder about how the animals might feel being viewed from every angle. You can see where the entrance fees go in terms of feeding and looking after the volume of animals. This is easily a full day trip, if like us you have older teens, there are lots of understandably noisy little ones! Iwas however disappointed by the food. We ended up at June's food court, service was slow and the choices and I struggled to find healthy options. Next time I'd take a picnic.

Always have a great time here. Easy to get favourite coffee, always staff around to help. The boat trip on Island is magical.

Education Visit Health and Safety

If you’re planning a school trip to london zoo, we’ve pulled together all the health and safety details below you may need in order to prepare for your visit. , help with your risk assessment.

ZSL policies follow Zoo Licencing Act and relevant Health and Safety legislation. You are welcome to use our risk assessment guides and other documents to aid you in preparing for your visit:

London Zoo Educational Visits Risk Assessment 2023/24

Education Supervision Guidelines 2023/24

General Safety Guide for School Groups 2023/24

london zoo 2024 Public Liability Certificate

Please note that these are only guidelines; we encourage you to conduct your own risk assessment.

Once you have booked your trip you are entitled to a free preliminary recce visit to the zoo (one teacher per class) to help with this. We can also offer pre-visit consultations with the learning team over the phone or via a video conferencing platform. Please see our planning page for details:

Preparing for your education visit

Last entry to the Zoo is one hour before the Zoo closes, please check opening times for London Zoo  

Supervision Guidance

Students aged 16 or under must be supervised at all times.

The health and safety of our visitors is one of our main priorities. To help ensure this, all students must be supervised whilst in the Zoo. Those aged 16 or under must always be with a designated adult from your school. Students aged 17-18 do not need to be with an adult at all times, but school staff must be in the zoo and contactable during the trip. To enable this, we offer:

• One free supervising adult with every five students aged 16 or under (including EYFS)
• One free supervising adult with every ten Post-16 & HE students
• Free entry for 1-to-1 staff supporting SEND students

Please check out our behaviour guidelines for more information:

Behaviour guidelines for Schools and Community Groups

You can also find more information on organising a school visit by downloading a copy of the Department for Education's health & safety advice for schools .

Educational trips to London Zoo

Everything you need to book an educational visit to London Zoo

Supporting Learning Outside the Zoo

Making sure you have everything you need to help young people explore the natural world and discover how they can work for wildlife. 

Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo is within the top 15 zoos in the world and the most visited in the UK, for good reason too! Boasting a hugely diverse range of animals and species from all over the world Chester Zoo will educate your students on the vastness of the natural world as well as the importance of tackling climate change and extinction in order to ensure the survival of the natural world. On an educational visit to the zoo, you and your students can explore the various zones within the zoo and explore the lives of their favourite animals and some of the most critically endangered in the world. Also, on offer are the Zoo’s fantastic educational workshops that can be tailored to cover a range of topics from evolution and genetics to classification, extinction and eco-systems affected by climate change.

Aside from its obvious ties to science-based topics within the curriculum, the zoo also serves as a perfect visit for groups studying both business studies and travel and tourism with insightful workshops offering operation insight into marketing, customer care and staffing and recruitment specific to the zoo.

• Meet our animals
• Conservation
• Gift vouchers & adoptions

School Risk Assessments

Teacher and leader responsibilities

Teachers/Leaders and any supporting adults are responsible for the behaviour of the children towards the animals, staff, and other visitors. All children up to Year 9 (14 years old) must be directly supervised at all times. Responsible students in Year 10 and older must have supporting leaders in the zoo, but are allowed to traverse the zoo in small independent groups without direct supervision. All unsupervised children must be in uniform and/or otherwise identifiable.

When in close contact with animals or anything associated with an animal, students should be supervised and teachers/leaders must ensure appropriate hygiene afterwards. Teachers/leaders are also responsible to ensure all groups follow posted or verbal instructions and rules before entering a situation with animals.

Play areas are not supervised by Call of the Wild Zoo staff and are open to general visitors. If children are eligible to use the play area it is the teachers’ responsibility to ensure adequate supervision. ● School groups in EYFS – Year 6 (children 10 and younger) can use the zoo’s outdoor play area at any time ● Secondary school students in years 7 and above are not allowed on any play area at any time.

If children are not eligible to use the play area it is the teachers’ responsibility to ensure the students do not use the play area. In the event of any emergency, follow zoo staff instruction and ensure all students and adults with your group also follow said instructions.

Zoo responsibilities

Call of the Wild Zoo strives to provide a safe and enjoyable day out for schools and children’s groups. To ensure these groups’ health and safety the zoo follows a variety of procedures, and has many existing control measures in place. Stated below is a general risk assessment identifying potential risks and the controls Call of the Wild Zoo has in place to mitigate these potential risks. Please note that these are guidelines only and teachers are recommended to complete their own risk assessment prior to a school visit.

Risk assessment

General zoo visits and educational sessions with live animals

Most of our education sessions involve live animals which are brought out to illustrate specific points the students have learned about. Before any live animal is brought out the education staff will discuss behaviour, rules, and any other safety concerns; however, there are still some specific identified risks associated with these live animals:

Let's talk!

Call us on 01245 324043.

*during zoo opening hours

Year Four trip to Chester Zoo

The children enjoyed a fantastic trip to Chester Zoo. We learned about animals, their habitats, which continents they can be found and their risk of becoming endangered due to deforestation and other risks. A lot of the animals we managed to see lived in South East Asia where there are rainforests and it is also were of class text is set.

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Risk Assessments

Download our risk assessments.

Visitor Safety is of the utmost importance to us - we want to ensure you have a fantastic visit: Educational, inspirational and, of course, safe and enjoyable. Please note, the Risk Assessments are generic and are basic guidelines - we strongly encourage all groups to conduct their own risk assessments prior to their visit. Regarding school/educational group visits, once a booking has been made, two teachers per School will automatically be entitled to a free visit to plan your trip to the Zoo and assess any specific hazards/risks.

For further info, or for any specific queries, please email [email protected]

Affiliation.

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