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School trip consent form – free template

Enter the trip details, choose the sections, print: the template builds a letter to parents with a reply slip for consent and an emergency contact — and, if you need them, sections on medication, swimming and free time in small groups. It runs entirely in your browser; nothing is stored.

  • Free & no sign-up
  • Runs in your browser

Trip details

Anything you leave empty appears on the form as a line to fill in by hand.

Reply-slip sections

Runs entirely in your browser – nothing is stored or sent. Parents write any health details by hand.

Preview of the form

Class

School trip consent form

Dear parents and carers,

Our class is going on a school trip. The key details are below. Please complete the reply slip, sign it and send it back with your child by the date shown.

Destination
Dates
to
Departure
Return
Cost or contribution
Staff and helpers
Contact during the trip

Kind regards,

Please detach and return by

School trip reply slip

Child's name: Class

I give permission for my child to take part in the trip described above.

My child will not take part.

Emergency contact during the trip (name, phone):

Medication (name, dose, time):

Allergies and intolerances:

Anything else staff should know:

We use this information for the trip only and destroy it afterwards.

Date Signature of parent or carer Signature of parent or carer

Where parents live apart and share parental responsibility, the school may ask both to sign.

How it works

1 2 3
1

Enter the destination, dates, departure, return and any contribution — empty fields become lines to write on.

2

Choose the reply-slip sections: health, swimming, free time.

3

Print, hand out and collect the signed slips before the trip.

In detail

School trip consent in detail

When a school needs written consent

In England, the Department for Education's advice on educational visits is more relaxed than many parents expect. A school must always get written consent for nursery-age children. For older children, written consent is not needed for most trips, because they are part of the curriculum — although it is good practice to tell parents about them. It is usually only needed for trips that need a higher level of risk assessment or that take place outside normal school hours. A school may also ask parents to sign one consent form at enrolment that covers their child's whole time at the school, and should still tell parents about each trip and give them the chance to withdraw their child. This template covers the cases where a school does want a signed form for one trip.

Costs and contributions

In England, education during school hours is free, and so is education on a trip outside school hours that is part of the national curriculum, an exam syllabus or religious education (DfE, Charging for school activities). For those costs a school can only ask for a voluntary contribution: it must make clear that there is no obligation to pay, a child whose parents do not pay must still get an equal chance to go, and if too little comes in to fund the trip, it is cancelled. Two charges matter for trips. On a residential trip a school can charge for board and lodging, at no more than the actual cost, and parents who receive certain benefits are exempt; and it can charge for an optional activity outside school hours that is not part of the national curriculum, an exam syllabus or religious education, which children then join by their parents' choice. That is why the reply slip in this template asks for permission only and shows the cost as information: say in the covering letter which part of it, if any, is a charge rather than a contribution.

Medical needs, medication and free time

The statutory guidance Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions says pupils with medical conditions should have full access to education, including school trips. Schools should actively support them to take part and not prevent them, plan any separate arrangements a trip needs — typically in a risk assessment drawn up with the parents and relevant healthcare advice — and have written permission from parents before staff give medication. The health section of the reply slip collects what staff need for this one trip: medication with dose and timing, allergies and intolerances, and anything else they should know. Article 9 of the UK GDPR, like its EU counterpart, places health data in a special category, and it is good practice everywhere to use it for the trip only. The free-time section is for older pupils: it lets parents say whether their child may spend agreed time in small groups without a member of staff at their side.

The covering letter that goes out with the slip — occasion, programme, deadline — comes from the parent letter template, using its school trip occasion.

How consent is collected digitally — a letter to one class with a yes/no reply, read receipts and a reminder to everyone who has not answered yet — is shown in Digital parent letters with reply.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about school trip consent forms

Not in England. The Department for Education says written consent is not needed for most trips for children over nursery age, because they are part of the curriculum. It is usually only needed for trips that need a higher level of risk assessment or happen outside normal school hours, and a school can ask for one consent form at enrolment that covers all routine trips.

Not over a voluntary contribution: DfE advice says no child should be left out because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay, and a trip that cannot be funded is cancelled instead. Board and lodging on a residential trip, and an optional activity outside school hours that is not part of the national curriculum, can be charged for; parents who receive certain benefits do not pay for board and lodging.

The destination and dates, departure and return times and places, who is going as staff, how to reach them during the trip, any cost or contribution, and a reply slip with the child's name, permission, an emergency contact and a signature. For longer or more active trips, add medication, allergies, swimming and free time.

Yes, that is the expectation. The statutory guidance says schools should actively support pupils with medical conditions to take part in trips and visits and not prevent them, making reasonable adjustments and planning any separate arrangements with parents.

Your school decides who needs to sign. If you live apart from your child's other parent and share parental responsibility, ask the school whether it wants both signatures — the slip has room for two.

No. The template runs entirely in your browser; nothing you enter is saved or sent to a server. It does not ask for health details at all — the printed slip has blank lines for parents to fill in.
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