But off-site safety expert Dane Oliver says the same basic principles apply to assessing and managing all types of risk.

Fears about safety on school trips have heightened following recent tragedies and have led to one teachers’ union urging its members not to go on trips.

Ten youngsters have died, six of them from drowning, on trips since summer 1999. One died when hit by a rock while abseiling, another fell from a mountain path, and two others died on skiing holidays. Nine of the victims were girls.

But school trips are too important a part of children’s education to be abandoned, says Mr Oliver, a consultant for 3D Education and Adventure which runs courses for teachers who take pupils on trips. He says teachers need training to lead trips safely. “It is the duty of a teacher to take reasonable care of their pupils when taking them off the school premises. Sadly, it is all too often the case that when tragedies have occurred, reasonable care has not been taken,” he said.

Even for the shortest of walks out of the school gate, party leaders need to know how many children are being taken and how they are going to be kept together.

Ultimate responsibility for safety on a school trip lies with the employer, and teachers should know precisely who that is, whether it be the school governors, the local authority, a trust or a religious body.

“If something goes wrong, you will be the first witness, so make sure you know what advice your employer is giving,” says Mr Oliver.

Party leaders must satisfy themselves that their experience and training is appropriate.

The 3D courses aim to give advice on how to lead out-of-school activities ranging from a museum visit to adventure holidays in remote mountain areas. The 3D company, part of the Centre Parcs group, runs holidays for 70,000 children a year.

Iain Condliffe, a geography teacher at Lord Silkin school in Telford, who took the 3D course, said: “Staff think twice about taking pupils out, but the kids get so much out of it that we cannot take it away from them.

“I took pupils to Derbyshire and it was fantastic to see them doing things they had never done before like climbing, abseiling and caving.”