Lesson planner · classroom toolsField Trip Planning Checklist and Safety Plan
Plan a field trip step by step: the checklist below, plus a safety plan with hazards, precautions, supervision, emergency procedures and contacts already started for you. Print it or download Word for your principal.
Starting points – Check every row against your district's policy and the venue's rules, and add what is specific to your students.
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This supports, but does not replace, your district's policy. Your principal or administrator must review and approve it.
More field trip and safety plan templates
Field trip planning checklist
Before
- Check your district's field trip policy and request deadline
- Get principal approval before telling families
- Book the venue and a school bus or district-approved carrier
- Send the permission slip and letter home; track returns
- Recruit chaperones and check volunteer clearance rules
- Review health plans, 504 plans and IEPs with the nurse (by initials)
- Write the safety plan; plan lunch and restroom breaks
- Give the office the itinerary, student list and emergency contacts
- Brief chaperones with a written guide
Trip day
- Head count leaving, on and off the bus, and at every stop
- Carry permission slips, emergency contacts, first aid kit, medications and a school phone
- Review rules: buddy, meeting spot, what to do if lost
- Change or stop the plan if conditions change
Afterward
- Head count before dismissal
- File incident reports for any injury
- Thank chaperones; note what to change
- Update this plan for next year
Chaperone ratios
Ratios come from your district, and many set them by grade and type of trip: more adults for younger students, overnight trips, water and crowded city venues. If your district doesn't set one, decide it in your plan based on the students' ages and needs, the venue and the activities, and make sure one adult can leave with a sick or injured student while the rest of the group stays supervised. Give each chaperone a group (by number) and a written guide; the permission slip template includes one.
What to send home
- A permission slip with the date, times, destination, transportation, cost, what to bring and a signature line.
- A letter explaining what students will learn and how to reach the school on the day.
- A request to update health information with the school nurse, rather than writing it on a slip that gets passed around.
How to write a field trip safety plan
Use the ratings if your district asks for them: likelihood × severity from 1 to 5, or Low / Medium / High. The colors make it easy to see what still needs attention.
What to give your principal for approval
- The district's field trip request form, filled in by its deadline.
- This safety plan (printed, PDF or Word).
- The itinerary with times, the venue's address and the transportation booking.
- The supervision plan: number of adults, the ratio, and chaperone groups (by group number).
- A copy of the permission slip and letter home.
- How health needs are covered: the number of students with health plans, who carries medications, and that the nurse has reviewed them (no names on the plan itself).
Is there a federal rule for field trip safety plans?
No. There's no single federal law that sets out a field trip safety plan or a chaperone ratio. Your district sets the rules through board policy and administrative procedures: request forms and deadlines, approval by the principal (and sometimes the district office or board for overnight and out-of-state trips), permission slips, chaperone clearance, transportation and medication handling. Your state may add requirements too. On the staff side, federal OSHA doesn't cover public school employees, but in roughly half the states an OSHA-approved State Plan does, which matters mostly for labs, shops and kitchens.
Students with disabilities have the right to take part in field trips and school activities on an equal basis, so plan accommodations from their 504 plan or IEP rather than leaving them out.
Keep student information out of it
Write "Student A" or initials and say where the confidential plan is kept ("health plans are with the trip leader"). Names, diagnoses, IEP or 504 details and family phone numbers belong in your district's systems, not on a plan that gets printed and handed to chaperones. What you type here stays in this browser.
Sources and further reading
- OSHA: State Plans
- U.S. Department of Education: disability discrimination FAQs (Section 504)
- Your district's board policy and administrative rules on field trips, volunteers, medications and student health.
We link to these so you can read the original guidance; we haven't copied it. Your district's policy comes first.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a field trip checklist?
District request and principal approval, venue and bus booking, permission slips, chaperones and their clearance, health plans reviewed with the nurse, a safety plan, a list left with the office, and on the day: head counts, first aid kit, medications, emergency contacts.
What is the chaperone ratio for a field trip?
It depends on your district's policy, which often sets ratios by grade and type of trip. If none is set, decide it in your safety plan based on age, needs, venue and activity.
Do I need a safety plan for every field trip?
Follow your district. Many require a request form for every trip and a fuller plan for overnight, out-of-state, water or high-risk trips. A short plan is good practice for any trip.
Where is my plan saved?
In this browser on this device only. Nothing is uploaded. Download a backup now and then, and leave student names and health details out.