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Managing safety on school trips

NST's Safety Management System - our benchmark for school tour safety

By booking with NST, you’ll have the reassurance of our externally verified Safety Management System (SMS) which exactly matches the Department for Education’s and Scottish Executive’s recommendations for Educational trips. 

For your protection, our SMS covers:

  • 24-hour emergency cover

  • Audited accommodation & transport

  • Excursions & school visit assessment

  • Group leader preview visits

You can download our SMS Policy document here.

School Travel Forum – assurance for teachers when organising an educational visit

NST is an Assured Member of the School Travel Forum (STF) and in booking with us you can be secure in the knowledge that we have effective Safety Management Systems in place, specifically focused on travelling with young people. To ensure our health and safety standards are maintained, NST’s systems and procedures are fully audited annually by independent experts.

STF membership is the benchmark for good educational visit providers; consequently it is an Awarding Body for the prestigious Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge. We were one of the first UK educational travel companies to have been awarded the LOtC Council’s Quality Badge – your guarantee that we offer high quality teaching and learning experiences, and manage safety on school visits effectively.

The Outdoor Education Advisors Panel (OEAP) endorses the Quality Badge and requests Local Authorities to recommend the use of badged providers and require the minimum of additional paperwork where Quality Badge accreditation is in place. This means that you can book your next school visit with confidence, meet your due diligence and reduce the amount of External Provider paperwork necessary.

You can download our School Travel Forum Certificate of Compliance and Quality Badge Certificate here.