Ranger Led School and Group Visits - Booking Conditions

Time and Date of Your Visit

The time and date of your visit is shown on your booking form. Bookings must be made at least four weeks in advance unless otherwise agreed with area Ranger. Please try to arrive at the time you have arranged. If you are likely to be late then please contact us and advise us of your arrival time. If you need to change the time or date of your visit, please inform us as soon as possible and we try to rearrange your visit but we cannot guarantee availability. If we need to change the time or date of your visit we will let you know as soon as possible and offer you alternatives.

Name of Group or School

This is the name and address we will use to contact you and where we will send your invoice. Please give us a postal contact address including postcode when you book.

Venue

This will be agreed when you book. We will suggest the most appropriate venue to suit your needs when you book. This may not always be at one of our visitor centres, but may be another countryside site close to your location, or one that offers the features you require. If you want to visit a particular site, please discuss this with the area Ranger when you book.

Subject

This will be agreed when you book. We will do our best to provide subjects and activities to meet your needs. Advice on subject options can be got from area Ranger. However we do reserve the right to change or omit any activity.

Ages

Please advise us of the age range of your group. We will use this information to tailor the session to the age range.

Number

Please advise us of the number in your group. Our maximum group size is 30 or one school class, plus adult helpers. If your group exceeds 30, please discuss this with area Ranger when you book. We may be able to accommodate larger groups by special arrangement. 

Contact Person/Phone Number

This should normally be the name of the group leader. We will use this name to contact your group.

Cost

You will be advised of the cost of your visit when you book and this is indicated on your booking form. Please send payment to the address on the invoice.

Risk Assessment and Insurance

You will need to conduct a risk assessment to comply with your own requirements. We will conduct our own risk assessments for your visit, and we can provide information and assistance to help you conduct your own risk assessment.

All visitors to our sites are covered by the Councils public liability insurance. This will include your group.

Adult Helpers

You will need to ensure that you have enough adult help in order to comply with your own regulations. In any case you must comply with the Children’s Act, and we require a minimum of one adult to every 6 children. When calculating the adult to child ratio, DO NOT include any of our staff. Please note that some activities may require a higher adult to child ratio. Also we may need to restrict the numbers engaged in some activities at any one time. This may mean that we will need to split the group up. In this case you will be offered the opportunity to lead part of the group on an alternative activity. We will provide the resources for this.

First Aid

In order to comply with your own regulations you will need to ensure that a member of your staff is trained in First Aid and carries a First Aid Kit. All our staff are trained in First Aid. In the event of an accident, we will offer to assist, but will need the approval of the group leader before taking any action.

Medical, behaviour issues, bites, stings, allergies etc

Please inform use of any individual medical/ behaviour issues which you feel we should know about or which may affect the group’s visit.

It is impossible to undertake a field visit without some exposure to biting insects, stinging plants and exposure to allergens. We will do our best to keep potential contact to a minimum, but the group leader needs to be aware of the potential for exposure, and should inform us if any group member has a serious allergy problem.

Behaviour and Discipline

Please remember that the group leader remains responsible for the group at all times during the visit. We will brief the group on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour at the start of the session, and again if circumstances require. The group leader will be responsible for ensuring that the behaviour of the group is acceptable. We will only intervene if the behaviour of the group or any group members becomes dangerous or potentially dangerous. We reserve the right to terminate your visit at any time if we feel the group’s behaviour is unacceptable. 

Clothing and Equipment

As your visit will take place mainly outdoors, please dress appropriately. We will discuss this with you when you book, but generally you should wear ‘outdoor’ clothes that you do not mind getting dirty. As some activities may include kneeling or walking through tall vegetation, shorts and skirts are not usually recommended. What you actually wear depends largely on the weather and season, but we recommend that you always bring a waterproof coat, appropriate footwear, warm clothing, in summer sun hats and sun block are a good idea.

We reserve the right to refuse any group or individuals who we feel are inappropriately dressed or equipped.

Weather Conditions

We will always be prepared to run your visit regardless of the weather, unless conditions are so severe that they will be dangerous. The decision to cancel due to weather will be up to the group leader. We will try to offer an alternative activity if the weather is poor, but we cannot guarantee this.

Lunch

We do not provide lunch on any visit. If you are staying over lunch, please bring food and drink with you. Normally you will be eating outside ‘picnic style’, so you will need to bring hand wipes or similar with you.

In poor weather we will attempt to provide shelter for lunch, but we cannot guarantee this. In hot weather we recommend that you bring plenty of cold drinks. Please ensure that any rubbish is removed from the site and disposed of appropriately.

Toilets

There are accessible toilets, at most of our visitor centres. If your visit starts at a visitor centre, these will be available at the start and end of the visit. We would ask that your adult helpers supervise all use of the toilets, and that the toilets are left clean and tidy. At other times, access to toilets may be limited or non-existent, so please ensure that everyone has used the toilet before your visit. On site there may be suitable locations that can be used, but you will need to bring hand wipes or similar with you.

Special Needs

We are working towards full compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. However please be aware that some sites may have limitations on accessibility. Most activities can be adapted for most needs. Please advise us when you book of any special requirements you may have and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Cancellations

If you cancel a visit, please let as know as soon as possible. If you cancel at least four weeks before the booked date, we will refund you fee. If you cancel less than four weeks before your visit, we will refund your fee less an administration charge. If we need to cancel your visit, we will contact you as soon as possible. We will do our best to offer an alternative date, but if we cannot then we will refund your fee in full.

Feedback

As part of the Councils commitment to continual improvement, we welcome you comments to help us improve our service. Please take a moment to complete a feedback form at the end of your visit and return it to us.