Requirements for excursions and
regular outings
Excursions
An excursion is defined under
regulation 4 of the Education and
Care
Services
National
Regulations as:
‘An outing organised by an
education and care service or
family day care educator, but
does not include an outing
organised by a service on a
school site if the children leave
the premises in the company of
an educator and do not leave the
school site.’
Examples of an excursion may
include:
 a preschool service walks to
the local shops to buy
ingredients for baking
 a long day care service
attends a wildlife park to
view the animals
 a family day care educator
drives to a community show
with the children
 an outside school hours care
service attends the cinema.
guardians is sought
regulation 102.
Regulation 100 requires a risk
assessment to be conducted
before an excursion takes
place. The approved provider
and/or nominated supervisor of
an education and care service
and family day care educator
must ensure a risk assessment
is carried out in accordance
with regulation 101 before
authorisation from parents and
Written authorisation must be
gained for children participating
in an excursion each time the
excursion takes place.
Quality Education and Care NT
Department of Education
Contact: qualityecnt.det@nt.gov.au or (08) 8999 3561
under
If the excursion is a regular
outing, as discussed below,
then a risk assessment is only
required to be completed at
least once annually or unless
aspects about the excursion
change.
Helping give Territory kids
the best start in life.
www.education.nt.gov.au
2
continued……
When planning an excursion:
 Risk
assessments
must
identify and assess risks that
the excursion may pose to the
safety, health or wellbeing of
any child taken on the
excursion and specify how the
identified risk will be managed
and minimised. Regulation
101 outlines what must be
considered
when
conducting a risk assessment
 An example template risk
management
plan
for
excursions is available on
ACECQA’s
website
at
www.acecqa.gov.au.
 Outlined under regulation 102
are very specific details
relating to authorisations for
excursions. Please refer to
this regulation for further
detail.
 When
planning
for
an
excursion, the service must
ensure that of the educators
participating in the excursion
collectively, the approved
qualifications in first aid,
anaphylaxis
and
asthma
management are held by
either
one
or
multiple
educators.
Regular Outings
A regular outing is also defined
under regulation 4 of the
Education and Care Services
National Regulations as:
‘A walk, drive or trip to and from
a destination that the service
visits regularly as part of its
educational
program,
and
where
the
circumstances
relevant to the risk assessment
are the same on each outing.’
Examples of a regular outing
may include:
 a preschool service located
directly on school premises
that regularly attends the
school
farm,
library,
computer
room
or
playground
 a preschool or long day care
service that regularly visits
the community library as part
of the program offered to
children
 a preschool or long day care
service
located
on a
school site and regularly
attends another room at the
school for the purposes of
engaging in a library, music
or educational program
 a long day care service that
walks or transports children
by bus to a nearby preschool
each day
 a family day care educator
that regularly attends the
local library with children
 an outside school hours care
service that regularly attends
a local gymnasium program.
Regulation 100 states that a
risk assessment is not required
for a regular outing if a risk
assessment has previously
been completed and the
circumstances of the outing
have not changed since the
assessment was completed.
Authorisation
from
a
parent/guardian for a child to
participate in a regular outing is
only required to be obtained
once in a 12 month period.