Adult Appointments Process – you can see the expected pathway here
6th Winchester is part of Winchester District in Hampshire County which is part of Scouts UK. The Headquarters oversees all of UK Scouting under the Scout Association (TSA) to whom each child pays an annual membership fee (collected as part of termly subscriptions called ‘capitation’) to cover training, insurance etc. Events are organised at an international, national, county and district level – these are publicised on the various websites (see Useful Links) and social media.
Below are some useful links and resources:
Each Section should have a designated leader who is responsible for SEN and ensuring that we are meeting the needs of every child in the Section. This person will be the contact for any 1-2-1 carers and responsible for managing time-sheets (if applicable). Please let the GSL know who your designated SEN leader is.
Some Sections have a designated leader and some prefer to share the roles around, however I do need a single person to direct queries and information to. Please can you let me know who the designated contact will be for your Section.
You’ve got to be in it to win it. Make sure you have one or two of your section on the mailing list for District meetings where District events and camps are planned and organised and you meet and exchange ideas with leaders from other sections.
There are also Facebook Groups for Winchester Scouts and Winchester District Beaver Leaders as well as 6th Winchester Scouts and 1st Facebook Scout Group.
If you have moved sections recently please can you fill a Change of Role form and return to me to enable your role to change on Compass. You will need to revalidate Module 3 in your new Section – not too hard – go to some sessions and planning, learn the new section ceremonies etc.
Aim to get on a New Leaders Skills Workshop which are run periodically by District or a Leaders Skills Day.
The aim of the workshops are to:
You should aim to validate your Getting Started Modules (see Adult Training) within 5 months of your provisional appointment then you can be invested and wear a 6th Winchester Scouts necker with pride.
Ask your fellow Section Leaders for help and guidance to achieve this.
You should try and achieve your Wood Badge (Modules 1-19) within 3 years of appointment. If you haven’t done any training for a while, please have a look at what you’d like to do next and have a chat with one of the Training Advisers. Course and Training info can be found on District website, County website, Scout Association website.
Please keep chipping away at your Training Modules and help and support each other in trying to achieve this. You could get together with others to book a course.
Don’t forget you don’t necessarily have to go on a course if you have prior experience – check the Training Advisors Guide. You can also do online learning/workbooks instead.
Module 10 (First Response) is a good one to get under your belt. You can book that here.
Other County-run modules are available here.
Susan Bowdery, Helen Howell and myself are Training Advisors so do use us to validate modules and work towards your Wood Beads (for Assistant and Section Leaders).
If you have been a leader for more than 3 years and achieved your Wood Beads, well done!
You should then look at doing Ongoing Learning. This consists of Safety (which can be done as an online module), Safeguarding and First Response every 3 years and 5 hours of additional learning (which can include meetings and leader activity days).
You can find information from Winchester District on their webpage (Camps, Sleepovers, Sports, Archery/Rifle-shooting) and by attending termly District Beaver/Cub/Scout Meetings – don’t wait to be invited to these, make sure your section sends a representative to each one to be part of the District events. Ask to be put in touch with the Assistant District Commissioner for Beavers/Cubs/Scouts via Contact Us
This is a good one for all to tackle and can take only a few hours face-to-face and practical with the new pre-course on-line training, read more here.
Let’s see if we can improve the number of leaders that have at least the minimum amount of Training for a Full Appointment and some more to work towards Wood Beads.
Don’t forget there are also Activities or Nights Away Permits to broaden what we can offer for adventure. Check out the District site too for local info.
You may like to become a Training Advisor or participate as a member of the Appointments Panel as each Group needs to play its role in providing these services to the District. Let me know if you’d like a chat about this.
If your existing DBS check is about to expire or you had a DBS for another Scout Group, you may need to renew your DBS by producing three forms of identification so that our DBS Administrators can renew your DBS check.
Please all have a look on the Scouts Organisation Membership System called Compass to see your own Scouts Membership and Training and DBS records, tick your communication preferences. Your membership number will be on your appointments letter from the District Appointments Secretary.
OSM: Online Scout Manager (OSM) is the lifeblood of how we manage Scouting for 6th. If you are new to it or would like a tutorial on how to plan sessions, set up events, use the Quartermasters Stores there are a lot of good video guides on the system itself or your fellow Section Leaders or GSL would be happy to help you.
The Find Activities section is great for programme inspiration.
Please record all programme plans and risk assessments on OSM with enough meaningful detail that parents and other leaders know what is planned and what to expect.
BOX: We have a lot of information which is useful for you to know gathered in the process of setting up and managing the Group such as How To guides for OSM, Policies on Uniform expenses etc. Please use it, edit it and add to it anything you find useful.
There is a wealth of Programme Planning advice online on OSM and the Scout Association website.
Ensure you have the right approval for and authority for adventurous activities you may have planned especially Nights Away which requires a permit and DBS’d adults only.
Are there special rules relating to the activity?
Click here for A-Z of activities.
Click here for Nights Away.
Section Leaders – please can you add your new leaders to both OSM and BOX as soon as you feel it is helpful for them to be fully in the loop. As soon as you add them to the Section Leaders Access settings page, they will get an email to sign up to OSM. You will need to set the right level of access (Settings – Leaders Access). Ensure you have access to the sections above and below yours too for moving on purposes. There are Section Leaders guides on BOX to remind you what needs to happen each term on OSM and in liaison with the Membership Sec for new joiners.
Our closed Facebook page (go to page and request to be a member) contains records of our activities and information updates – do join us!
You should not be left out of pocket volunteering for Scouts. In order to track and record expenditure, we use the invoice and expense recording function of Online Scout Manager. I have written a guide on how to do this on BOX.
Record the expense as an invoice (Section Admin – Invoices – Create Invoice then Add Record for each line item) and upload the receipts you wish to claim for then claim it by emailing the GSL and Treasurer with the OSM INV number, your section, the amount and your bank details if you’ve not been refunded previously by the Group. This will enable your section to see what you’ve spent already in various budgets (Camps, Events, Weekly Sessions) for the term. You can archive these at the end of term to start the new term afresh (you can also archive past events too to unclutter your Events page)
Each term we need to plan Taster Sessions (ideally identify and mark these on the program at your planning meeting the term before) for new joiners and children moving on. Please ask those moving on what their plans are for the coming term around half term. Only then can we allocate spaces for newcomers.
The children due to move on can be identified by age (those due to turn 8, 10.5 or 14 by half term of the coming term).
You can indicate the plans by editing this document and/or emailing the Membership Secretary and the leader of the section above know.
As well as managing the children moving on, we need to ensure that we maintain the number of leaders in each section at an optimum of 5-6 per section who are all happy to help run sessions to spread the load. Sometimes it is not obvious what is going to happen with a leader: will they move on to the next section with their child or stay in the section with their younger child or perhaps they want to take a break or switch to a different type of role? It would be great if you could talk to each other and let each other and GSL know what your intentions are as soon as possible to avoid leaving Sections without enough leaders and at risk of closing. If you’re feeling the pressure or have a change in circumstances, please have a chat with your Section Leader or GSL and we can always find a solution.
You can check the length of your appointment on Compass (please do check your personal records and keep them up to date) – if you are coming towards the renewal date of your appointment or you would like to consider a different role in Scouting, please arrange to have a chat with me. I am the ‘Line Manager’ for all of the Adult Volunteers so should be the first port of call for any issues that can’t be sorted at the Section level and any advice and am happy to be contacted at any time if there’s anything you need.
Have a fantastic time!
Yours in Scouting
Sarah Bayley
GSL 6th Winchester
email: 6thwinchesterscouts@gmail.com
Updated 11/09/22
An explorer, adventurer and TV presenter, Dwayne's been seen in BAFTA nominated Channel 5 series Race to the Pole, on BBC Springwatch, Countryfile, National Geographic and Disney+.
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