Tree Surveys For Schools
Our consultants are professional members of the Arboricultural Association, LANTRA-certified Professional Tree Inspectors, Enhanced DBS-checked, and qualified to Level 6 (Degree-Level) in Arboriculture. This ensures that every assessment is carried out by a highly competent, experienced, and fully vetted specialist.
We have undertaken regular routine inspections of all trees at individual schools, colleges, and universities, for local and national educational bodies and academy chains, from small to large tree stocks, as part of Health and Safety audits. This helps you comply with health and safety legislation and ensures that all your employees and pupils are safe within the workplace.
Tree Risk Assessments for Educational Sites
Schools and educational establishments have a legal duty of care to ensure that all trees on their land are managed safely. Regardless of how many trees are present, it is the school's responsibility to ensure they are inspected, monitored, and maintained to prevent foreseeable harm.
Routine tree inspections allow early identification of defects, decay, and declining tree health. This enables schools to bring in contractors to address unsafe trees before they become a hazard. A rolling programme of inspection, management, and monitoring provides strong evidence that the school is meeting its legal obligations to safeguard pupils, staff, visitors, and the wider community.
Ongoing Tree Safety for Schools & Trusts
Most schools and academy trusts keep their trees on a rolling inspection cycle rather than commissioning each survey separately. Our retained tree management service puts your whole estate on a managed programme with tracked reinspection dates, priority response, and fixed annual budgeting — so your tree safety records never lapse and your costs are predictable year to year. Available for single schools and multi-academy trusts alike.
Qualified & Experienced Consultants
All consultants carrying out Visual Tree Assessments (VTA) for Urban Tree Management are:
- Professional members of the Arboricultural Association
- Level 6 (Degree‑Level) in Arboriculture
- Holders of the Lantra Professional Tree Inspection (PTI) qualification
- Enhanced DBS‑checked for work on educational sites
- Licensed QTRA risk assessors
- Experienced in delivering tree safety surveys for over 100 educational sites across the UK
We hold £1 million Professional Indemnity and £5 million Public Liability insurance through Arborisk.
Technology‑Led Compliance
We record every school survey in CanopyQ, our own purpose-built tree survey system, developed in-house. Every tree is GPS-mapped, creating a digital record that is easy to update and maintain, and inspections are completed on site using real-time digital forms so information is captured instantly rather than transcribed from notes.
Condition ratings, priority levels and recommended works are presented clearly, helping school business managers and estates teams understand risk at a glance. Each inspection is logged with geotagged, time-stamped photography, providing a robust audit trail for governors, insurers and HSE reviews.
Because the system is ours, reporting can be configured to your trust's format and your data fields — and across a multi-school estate every site is recorded to identical conventions, so the portfolio can be compared and prioritised as a whole rather than read as a set of separate documents.
Early-Warning Health & Safety Audits
Our tree health and safety audits act as an early-warning system for school managers. We provide clear, prioritised management plans so that tree risk can be reduced to a reasonable level. This allows schools to demonstrate they have met their duty of care to pupils, staff, and visitors.
Tree Inventories & Prioritised Work Schedules
We can prepare a full digital tree inventory and a prioritised schedule of tree works, enabling contractors to carry out risk-management tasks efficiently and in the correct order.
We only recommend essential works that genuinely reduce risk, ensuring school budgets are not exhausted on unnecessary tree surgery.
Using CanopyQ and our own survey equipment, we capture data quickly and accurately, producing digital maps and plans for fast, efficient reporting. Where defects require further investigation, we also use the latest tree-decay detection equipment to assess internal structural issues.
Ash Dieback on School Sites
Ash dieback is present across school grounds throughout the North West, and infected ash become progressively brittle and unpredictable long before they look obviously dead. On a school site, where a declining ash stands over a playground, footpath or car park, that matters considerably.
We assess proportionately — identifying the trees that genuinely need action, those that can be monitored, and those that can be left alone — with a prioritised schedule that spreads cost across budget years rather than triggering wholesale removal.
When Should Schools Consider a Tree Assessment?
Schools should consider a tree assessment whenever there is a reasonably foreseeable risk. Visible defects such as deadwood, split or fallen branches, cavities, fungal growth, or signs of decay can indicate that a tree may pose a hazard to pupils, staff, or property.
Trees located close to high-use areas — including playgrounds, entrances, footpaths, sports fields, and car parks — also warrant more frequent inspection due to the higher level of daily activity around them.
Assessments are essential when development or expansion is planned. If the school intends to extend buildings, install modular classrooms, enlarge playgrounds, or alter sports pitches, a BS5837 Tree Survey may be required to understand how nearby trees could be affected. A structured tree-management plan is also valuable for long-term safety and budgeting. Without one, mature trees may decline unnoticed, increasing the risk of structural failure that could lead to damage or, in severe cases, injury.
Trusted by Schools, Colleges & Trusts
We have carried out tree‑risk surveys for a wide range of schools, colleges, academies, and multi‑academy trusts across the UK.
Case Study — Eight-School Estate, Tameside
A property management company acting for a portfolio of schools in Tameside instructed us to assess over 1,000 trees across eight sites — delivered as one consistent programme rather than eight separate surveys, so the estate could be compared, prioritised and budgeted as a whole.
Every tree received a Level 2 detailed Visual Tree Assessment, escalating to QTRA only where the visual assessment triggered it. Reinspection was set at 12 to 15 months rather than the 24-month institutional default, justified in writing on the presence of ash dieback and the weighting towards young stock.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do schools legally need tree surveys
Yes. Schools have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Occupiers’ Liability Acts. The NTSG guidance confirms that landowners (including schools) must manage foreseeable risks from trees. Regular surveys demonstrate compliance and provide evidence of responsible management.
How often should trees be inspected
The NTSG states there is no fixed national interval — inspections should be proportionate to risk. For schools, this usually means:
- Annual or biennial surveys in high‑use areas (playgrounds, entrances, car parks).
- Less frequent checks in low‑risk zones.
- Additional inspections after severe weather events. This tiered approach balances safety with the value of retaining trees.
What qualifications should a tree surveyor have?
According to the National Tree Safety Group (NTSG), all tree inspections must be carried out by competent persons. In an educational setting, this means the level of competence must match the level of risk, the size of the tree population, and the duty‑holder’s legal responsibilities.
Formal inspections must be undertaken by qualified arboricultural professionals
This typically includes consultants with:
- Level 6 (Degree‑Level) Arboricultural Qualifications
- LANTRA Professional Tree Inspection (PTI) certification
- Professional membership of the Arboricultural Association
- Demonstrable experience in tree risk assessment
- Enhanced DBS certification (essential for working on school sites)
These individuals are considered competent to produce defensible, evidence‑based reports that meet Health & Safety and Occupiers’ Liability requirements.
Staff may carry out basic visual checks for obvious hazards, but formal reports should be produced by certified professionals.
Can you survey all the schools in our trust?
Yes. We deliver multi-site programmes across academy trusts to a single consistent methodology and reporting format, with per-site reports and consolidated data for the trust. We currently hold programmes covering estates of eight schools and more.
How much does a school tree survey cost?
It depends on the number of trees and the number of sites. All our surveys are provided on a fixed fee, quoted in advance with no hidden charges. For a trust, a multi-site programme is usually more economical than commissioning each school separately.
Tree Surveyors who can help with your school or academy
Schools and multi-academy trusts have a particularly important duty of care when it comes to trees — children are on site every day, and the consequences of an undetected tree defect in a school environment are unthinkable. Urban Tree Management's DBS-checked, QTRA-qualified consultants provide the highest standard of school tree survey work available in the North West.
Get in contact with our highly experienced and personable team of arboricultural consultants today, to discuss your requirements and to obtain your zero obligation quotation.
