Planning a school trip: collect the fee, permission and medical details in one link (with a checklist)

Step 1: Decide the basics before telling parents

• The amount and what it covers: bus, entry tickets, food, guide. Parents ask “Does this include lunch?” more than anything else.
• Seats: the bus or venue limit, and how many teachers will go. Many schools keep at least one teacher for every 15–20 students, and more for younger classes; follow your school’s own rule.
• The reporting time and place, and when students will be back.
• Your refund rule in one line, for example “No refund after the bus is booked; tell us before Friday.”
• The last date to register.

Step 2: Ask parents only what the trip needs

Children’s details deserve care: ask only what the teachers will actually use on the trip. A good set of questions:

• Class and section (and roll number if your school uses it).
• Allergies or medical needs — ask parents to write “None” if there are none, so a blank never means “forgot”.
• An emergency contact number other than the parent’s own, if possible.
• The parent’s permission: “I allow my child to go on this trip.” If your school needs a signed paper slip, keep it; the online answer becomes your quick record of who said yes.
• Pickup point, if the bus stops at more than one place.

Step 3: Collect the fee and the permission together

On Yano, you make one page for the trip with the amount, the seats and the questions above, all required. Parents open the link from the class WhatsApp group, book once for each child with the child’s name, answer the questions and pay the school directly by UPI — or by card and netbanking if the school connects its own Razorpay or Cashfree account. Yano never holds the money.

Every booking then shows the student, the parent’s phone, what was paid and every answer, in one list. Cash payments at the office can be added by hand with “Add a guest”, so nobody is missing from the list. When the last date passes, tap “Pause booking”.

Step 4: A week before

• Download the list and share the medical column with every teacher going. Keep a printed copy in the first-aid kit.
• Split students into groups, one teacher each, and tell students their group the day before.
• Send parents the reporting time again, and the teacher’s number to call on the day.
• If the date changes because of rain or exams, change it in Yano: every booked parent gets an email, and you see how many before it sends.

Step 5: At the bus

• Send the scanner link to the teachers on duty — no app or login, any phone. Each student’s pass works once.
• If the bus has more than one pickup point, the scanner shows who is still to board at each stop, with the parent’s number to call.
• A student forgot the pass or the parent’s phone? Find them by the parent’s mobile number.
• Count heads before the bus leaves, after every stop and before the return. The scanner tells you who boarded; a headcount tells you who is still on the bus.

A checklist to keep in your bag

• Printed student list with groups, medical notes and parents’ numbers.
• First-aid kit and any medicines parents handed over, labelled with names.
• School ID cards for students; a phone charger and power bank for teachers.
• The bus driver’s number and the venue’s contact.
• Water, and a plan for a student who feels unwell or gets separated: where to wait and whom to call.

After the trip

The office already has the full list with payments for the accounts. Next year, open this trip and tap “Repeat this event”: the questions and settings are copied, and you change the date and the amount.