Educational Policy on Camps and Excursions

A school camp is an excursion and compliance with the Department of Education's Excursion policy is mandatory. The policy and procedures relating to excursions are on the Department's Regulatory Framework System:

http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/regframe/index.cfm Index or

http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/regframe/Documents/DO01009379.pdf Excursions document

http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/regframe/Documents/DO01009379.pdf Water based excursions

Organisational Guidelines for Physical Education and Outdoor Education
See Reg Framework Policies, Procedures & Guidelines Profiles http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/regframe/

Before a camp commences, approval to operate the activity must be obtained from:

1. The Principal
2. The parents or guardians of all students.

All camp excursion documents (class lists, receipts, etc.) must be retained for further information and audit purposes.

Insurance Arrangements

The Western Australian Government provides insurance for the Department of Education including schools and camp schools through a managed fund called RiskCover, which is administered by SGIC.

The Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981, provides statutory benefits to the Education Department, plus indemnity for legal liability under common law, arising from personal injury to workers of the Department under contract of service.

Indemnity is given for physical loss of, or damage to property owned by employees and used in connection with their employment, so long as it is not otherwise insured. Money and jewellery are excluded.

As long as appropriate approval for camp is obtained, personal accident cover applies to voluntary workers, work experience and students attending camps. The school camp excursion insurance policy covers students to a maximum of $10,000 for medical and ancillary expenses where these costs are not covered by Medicare or private health insurance. The policy also includes home tutorial expenses up to $5,000 and for reasonable funeral expenses. The total amount payable under this policy cannot exceed $20,000 per student when all these costs are added together. Any costs beyond this amount are the responsibility of the parent or guardian.
Personal cover is the responsibility of the parent.

Legal Liability for Negligence at School Camps

Education Department regulations require that students be supervised 24 hours per day whilst on camp.

The duty of teachers to care for the safety of their students is well established in law. School camps, excursions and outings have always been taken as school, or an extension of school. Today, however the standard of care has been changed from a "reasonably careful parent" to that of a "reasonably careful teacher".

A teacher is bound by and shall comply with all administrative instructions, which apply to him or her.

In the case of an accident at camp, in deciding what a reasonable teacher would have done in the circumstances, any special written camp rules, procedures and/or instructions from the Department of Education, including those issued from this camp school, will be taken into consideration in determining whether or not a teacher is guilty of negligence.

Public Liability

Pemberton Camp school is a Government of Western Australia Department of Education facility and has public liability insurance of $200 million insured through RiskCover.