Risk assessment

The health and safety of our visitors is one of our main priorities.

ZSL policies follow Zoo Licencing Act, relevant Health and Safety legislation together with the National Guidance for the Management of Outdoor Learning and both sites have been awarded quality badges by Learning outside the Classroom.

Please note that these are only guidelines; we encourage you to conduct your own risk assessment - once a booking has been made, one teacher per class will be automatically allocated free admission to plan their trip - simply bring your booking confirmation with you when you visit. Last entry to the Zoo is one hour before the Zoo closes, please check opening times for ZSL London Zoo or ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.

The following is in place to support your visit to the Zoo:

• To support the learning outcomes set for your visit to the Zoo we ask that all students on a school visit to the Zoo are supervised at all times whilst in the Zoo. Therefore we offer:
• One free adult with every six students from EYFS to Primary
• One free adult with every ten students for Secondary students
• A free helper/carer for all SEND students

You are welcome to use our risk assessment guides and other documents to aid you in preparing for your visit:

• 2020 ZSL Public Liability Insurance (74.79 KB)
• School Visit Risk Assessment - ZSL London Zoo (227.66 KB)
• School Visit Risk Assessment - ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (179.54 KB)
• ZSL safeguarding policy (806.96 KB)
• Teacher pre-visit checklist for ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

You may find the following further information useful (particularly if you are assessing your visit through RADAR using the SAGED method):

Staff

•  All ZSL staff are fully trained to complete their roles in the Zoo. ZSL maintain compliance with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Zoo Licencing Act 1981 and all other health and safety legislation applicable in the countries in which ZSL operates, throughout the year.

Activity

• ZSL activities including all Discovery & Learning programming have full risk assessments associated with them. Please view our Public Liability Insurance document on this page for further information.
• Boasting a diverse and highly skilled Discovery & Learning Team, ZSL provide unique learning sessions for all ages and abilities. Linked to the National Curriculum and Exam Board Syllabi, we aim to deliver interactive experiences using resources such as live animals, objects from the natural world and multimedia. Further information on education sessions can be found here:ZSL London Zoo: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/schools/education-sessions.
  ZSL Whipsnade Zoo: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/education-sessions.
   
• The Discovery & Learning team also have a wide range of self-guided resources available for you to download which will support your visit to the Zoo
  ZSL London Zoo: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/london-online-resources.
  ZSL Whipsnade Zoo: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/online-resources.

Group

• ZSL offers free supervision adult entry in line with Department of Education supervision guidelines for Learning outside the Classroom (One free entry for supervision for every six primary students and one free entry for supervision for every 10 secondary students).
   
• Behaviour guidelines for students can be found here:
  ZSL London Zoo:  Education behaviour guidelines for schools at ZSL London Zoo (281.4 KB)
  ZSL Whipsnade Zoo: Education behaviour guidelines for schools at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (257.58 KB)
   
• ZSL offers free entry for carers of students with SEND - further information on SEND programmes (including Visual Stories) at ZSL can be found here:
  ZSL London Zoo:  http://www.zsl.org/education/special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send-at-zsl-london-zoo.
  ZSL Whipsnade Zoo: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/schools/special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send-at-zsl-whipsnade-zoo.

Environment

• Adverse weather is covered in our Risk Assessment (please see above for link)

Distance

• The different ways of getting to ZSL London Zoo can be found here: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/visitor-information/directions-to-zsl-london-zoo.
• The different ways of getting to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo can be found here: http://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/visitor-information/directions.

 

You can also find more information on organising a school visit by downloading a copy of the Department of Education's health & safety advice for schools.