Health & Safety

COVID-19
The health, safety and wellbeing of all our visitors and our team are of paramount importance to us. As we reopen activities for schools and other guests, we are doing so in full compliance with the current Covid-safe cleaning, personal protection and social distancing advice and guidance, in Wales (for Woodlands & Kilvrough) and in England (for Yenworthy).

Safety Accreditations
All three centres hold a valid AALA licence and the AHOEC GOLD award (which incorporates the  LOtC Quality Badge).

In addition centres are inspected by local authorities and hold the relevant Environmental Health rating. These external inspections provide validations of safety and quality, covering activity management, delivery, premises and facilities, which is an important consideration for any group considering booking a course at one of our centres.

The centres are fully equipped to deliver the range of activities and essential personal protective equipment is provided for all participants.

We ensure our groups are fully involved in safety management,  how to assess risk and to take the appropriate actions.

It is important to understand that while we take every precaution to make our courses safe, the very nature of adventure based activities and the environments in which we operate will occasionally result in the odd scratch, bump and bruise.

Oxfordshire Outdoors takes its responsibilities very seriously and pays particular attention to ensuring staff and participants are looked after.

We believe, it’s really important to establish a partnership between our centre staff teams  and visiting staff, by doing so we can focus on meeting the needs of all course participants. The centres provide a friendly and supportive environment for all visitors and our Course Leaders have a real passion for outdoor learning and they are experienced and skilled to deliver the  range of activities we offer.

At all of our centres we ensure:

• Service staff are qualified, experienced and committed to providing a high quality experience for all participants
• Service staff are trained to meet all current Safeguarding requirements
• Catering staff are all qualified in appropriate Food Hygiene Awards and follow the Safer Food Better Business principles and practice, validated through local Environmental Health inspections
• Student welfare is continually monitored and  reviewed through staff meetings and at all times during activities
• Centre and visiting staff work  together to ensure all participants needs are met. If a student is ill, or injured , we refer to the local GP or hospital as appropriate
• Diverse needs are catered for at all 3 centres, with Yenworthy designated as the principal support centre for special and diverse needs
• Premises management is delivered by an external company, working to a Service Policy that links together  planned and reactive works with scheduled maintenance
• Our minibus fleet complies with all current transport safety standards
• Grounds maintenance is regularly undertaken

Your feedback is important to us. All Course Organisers are provided with a Service Evaluation Form which we continuously use to inform centre and service wide improvements.