A school is a large estate, a substantial employer and a place where several hundred children spend their day. It is also, if it is an academy, able to choose between commercial insurance and a state backed arrangement, which makes the first question unusual.
Pupils are not employees and not quite the public
Public liability answers for injury to pupils, visitors and contractors on the site, and it is exercised constantly in a setting where children run. Employers' liability covers teaching and support staff, whose claims skew towards manual handling, slips and stress. The distinction matters because a school's two largest groups of people on site are covered by two different sections with different rating bases, and the pupil numbers drive one while the wage roll drives the other.
Trips, visits and activities away from school
Educational visits, residential trips, swimming, outdoor pursuits and foreign travel move pupils into settings the school does not control. Cover for these is usually a combination of the liability policy extended to off site activities and a travel policy for the trip itself, with adventurous activities frequently listed and conditioned. Schools are expected to hold records of risk assessments, provider checks and staffing ratios, and those records are what defend a claim rather than the policy wording.
The estate, and being closed
School buildings are large, often old, sometimes listed, and empty for long periods including the summer. Fire, escape of water in an empty building and arson out of hours are the property claims. Reinstatement values are frequently out of date. Business interruption for a school is about the cost of continuing to operate somewhere else rather than lost income, which makes the additional cost of working section more relevant than a turnover based one.
Safeguarding, staff and governors
Abuse allegation cover, employment practices liability for tribunal claims, and governors' or trustees' liability for the decisions of the board are the three covers schools most often review after an incident rather than before. Academy trusts are companies with directors' duties, and multi academy trusts carry the exposure across several sites. Cyber matters too, because a school holds sensitive data about children and has become a routine ransomware target.
Questions people ask about schools insurance
Do academies have to buy commercial insurance?
No. Academy trusts can choose between commercial cover and the state backed risk protection arrangement, which is the first decision rather than a detail.
Are school trips covered by the liability policy?
Usually through an off site activities extension plus a travel policy, with adventurous activities listed and conditioned. Risk assessments and provider checks are what defend a claim.
What covers governors and trustees?
Governors', trustees' or directors' liability answers for claims against them personally for board decisions, which is separate from the school's own liability cover.