[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":364},["ShallowReactive",2],{"parents-2023-24-academic-year":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"author_position":7,"body":8,"description":355,"extension":356,"meta":357,"navigation":358,"path":359,"seo":360,"sitemap":361,"stem":362,"__hash__":363},"parents\u002Fparents\u002F2023-24-academic-year.md","Year in Review - 2023\u002F24","Phil Gibson","Group Lead Volunteer (GLV)",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":334},"minimark",[11,16,23,26,29,34,37,40,43,47,50,53,57,60,63,66,105,108,119,123,126,140,145,148,152,159,166,169,178,182,185,193,197,200,203,211,215,218,221,225,236,240,243,246,250,253,256,260,263,266,269,272,276,279,287,294,298,301,304,308,311,315,318,322,325,328,331],[12,13,15],"h1",{"id":14},"_202324-year-in-review","2023\u002F24 Year in Review",[17,18,19],"p",{},[20,21,22],"em",{},"17 July 2024",[17,24,25],{},"Well, that's it! With our cub pack closing this evening, the 2024\u002F25 Scouting year has come to an\nend for the 17th - and what a year it's been. This page is a summary of the year, with some updates\non group policies, finances and the strategic direction of the group.",[17,27,28],{},"It's been a year of progress and change - some of the biggest changes we've seen in the group since\nits formation in 2017. This is a long post, so grab a cup of tea and settle in - or, use the\n\"On this page\" navigation on the left to jump to the section you're interested in.",[30,31,33],"h2",{"id":32},"leadership-teams","Leadership Teams",[17,35,36],{},"Firstly, I want to extend an immeasurable thank you to our section leadership teams in our\nBeavers, Cubs and Scouts sections. Without their dedication, enthusiasm and hard work, the group\nsimply couldn't function. The time commitment they make to the group is huge, and their passion\nfor ensuring young people get unforgettable, unique experiences within Scouting is truly inspiring.",[17,38,39],{},"I'm sure you'll join me in thanking them for their hard work this year.",[17,41,42],{},"We're also, sadly, saying goodbye to some of our leaders this year across our sections due to new\njobs and education commitments requiring travel - I want to extend a special thank you to them for\ntheir time with the group, and for a few of these leaders, we can't wait to see you back in the\n2025\u002F26 year!",[30,44,46],{"id":45},"group-trustee-board","Group Trustee Board",[17,48,49],{},"The 17th Newcastle Scout Group currently has several vacancies on its Trustee Board (formerly\nExecutive Committee), which we anticipate filling in the coming months - primarily by co-opting\nand electing new members at our Annual General Meeting (AGM - see below). The Trustee Board is\nresponsible for the governance of the group, ensuring that we're operating within the law and\nthe rules of the Scout Association.",[17,51,52],{},"I have only recently (October of last year) taken on the role of Group Lead Volunteer, and I'm\nalso delighted to announce in June our Cub Section Lead Volunteer (Ellie) has agreed to take on\nthe role of Group Chair until the AGM in September. I'm sure you'll join me in congratulating her\non this new role.",[30,54,56],{"id":55},"transformation-in-scouting","Transformation in Scouting",[17,58,59],{},"Across the UK, Scouts are undergoing significant changes to the way we deliver Scouting to young\npeople. While this primarily impacts leaders and groups more than individual young people, I feel\nit is important to both mention here, and also explain some of the key changes.",[17,61,62],{},"Firstly, a significant number of roles (the positions adults hold within Scouting) have been renamed\nto both better reflect the role they play in Scouting, and to make it easier for new volunteers and\nparents to understand what each role does.",[17,64,65],{},"The key changes are:",[67,68,69,84,92],"ul",{},[70,71,72,76,77,79],"li",{},[73,74,75],"strong",{},"Group Scout Leader (GSL)"," is now ",[73,78,7],{},[67,80,81],{},[70,82,83],{},"This has also been replicated across all levels of Scouting's leadership structure. Any\n\"Commissioner\" role such as District Commissioner is now \"Lead Volunteer\" (i.e. District Lead\nVolunteer)",[70,85,86,76,89],{},[73,87,88],{},"Section Leader",[73,90,91],{},"Section Team Leader",[70,93,94,97,98,101,102],{},[73,95,96],{},"Assistant Section Leader"," and ",[73,99,100],{},"Sectional Assistant"," roles have been merged into ",[73,103,104],{},"Section\nTeam Member",[17,106,107],{},"Secondly, the way we onboard and welcome new volunteers is changing to make it easier for new\nadults to get involved in Scouting. This includes a new online system for completing mandatory\ntraining (such as safeguarding and safety training) and a new, more streamlined process for\ncompleting a DBS check. This will hopefully encourage new volunteers to join us and help us to\ndeliver more Scouting to more young people.",[17,109,110,111,118],{},"The full strategy can be found on the\n",[112,113,117],"a",{"href":114,"rel":115},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.scouts.org.uk\u002Fvolunteers\u002Fvolunteer-experience\u002F",[116],"nofollow","Scout Association Website",", however,\nfor conciseness I've only included the key changes here.",[30,120,122],{"id":121},"events-and-activities","Events and Activities",[17,124,125],{},"We've run a number of events and activities this year, including:",[67,127,128,131,134,137],{},[70,129,130],{},"A group-wide camp at Broadwood Scout Campsite at the end of April (more below)",[70,132,133],{},"A number of hikes and walks in the local area",[70,135,136],{},"Trips for our Cubs and Scouts to a police station's cells and garages (a big thanks to\nNorthumbria Police for their assistance with these trips)",[70,138,139],{},"Bowling, bouldering and bouncing trips across the group",[17,141,142],{},[20,143,144],{},"and a lot more...",[17,146,147],{},"With improvements in our storage and equipment situation (more below), we've been able to run more\nactivities and events than ever before - and we're looking forward to running even more in the\n2025\u002F26 year.",[30,149,151],{"id":150},"mission-adventure-camp","Mission Adventure camp",[17,153,154,155,158],{},"Our ",[20,156,157],{},"Mission Adventure"," camp in April was a huge success, with over 50 young people from across\nthe group attending (compared to 25-30 in previous years). We had a huge number of young people\nspending their first ever night away from home - a feat that saw no tears and no homesickness!",[17,160,161,162,165],{},"Incidentally, the campsite was one of the - if not ",[20,163,164],{},"the"," - coldest places across the UK that\nweekend (just our luck, right?) but we saw no complaints from young people or leaders - a testament\nto the resilience and determination of our young people.",[17,167,168],{},"We can't wait for next year's camp (which we hope will be warmer, though with this Summer's weather\nI don't want to make any promises...) and we're looking forward to seeing many familiar and new\nfaces there.",[17,170,171,172,177],{},"We are also in the process of training more leaders to the ",[112,173,176],{"href":174,"rel":175},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.scouts.org.uk\u002Fvolunteers\u002Frunning-your-section\u002Fplanning-your-programme\u002Fnights-away-and-camping\u002Fnights-away-permit-scheme\u002F",[116],"Nights Away","\nstandard - the requirement to run a residential activity such as a camp - to ensure that we can\ncontinue to run camps, and indeed more camps, in the future.",[30,179,181],{"id":180},"beaver-leadership","Beaver Leadership",[17,183,184],{},"As some parents may be aware, our Beaver Section is largely run by dedicated parents, rather than\nby leaders who have been trained in Scouting. This is a common situation in many Scout groups, and\nis fantastic to see parents getting involved in the running of the group.",[17,186,187,188,192],{},"With that said, we are looking to recruit more leaders to the Beaver Section to ensure that we can\ncontinue the running and provision of high-quality Scouting to young people in the area. If you're\ninterested in volunteering with the group, please send me an email at\n",[112,189,191],{"href":190},"mailto:phil@17thnewcastle.org.uk","phil@17thnewcastle.org.uk"," - without volunteers, we simply\ncan't run the section.",[30,194,196],{"id":195},"waiting-lists","Waiting Lists",[17,198,199],{},"Our waiting list has grown by 35% in the last year, with - at the time of writing - 35 young people\non our group-wide waiting list.",[17,201,202],{},"We have merged all sectional waiting lists into one group-wide list, to ensure that we can offer\nplaces to young people as soon as they become available, and also ensure young people are offered\na place in the most age-appropriate section for them.",[17,204,205,206,210],{},"Furthermore, we have launched a new ",[112,207,209],{"href":208},"\u002Fjoin","Membership Form"," on our website, which allows parents\nto sign-up multiple young people to the waiting list at once, and also allows us to collect more\ninformation about the young people joining the group - which reduces the amount of administrative\ntime spent onboarding new members.",[30,212,214],{"id":213},"new-website","New Website",[17,216,217],{},"As you may have noticed, we have a new website! This website has been designed to be more\naccessible, fast, and informative - cutting jargon and making it easier for parents to find the\ninformation they need.",[17,219,220],{},"This website is also now the primary source of information for policy and procedure updates, as\nwell as the place to find out about upcoming events and activities (NB that we still use Online\nScout Manager to manage any personal information).",[30,222,224],{"id":223},"finances","Finances",[17,226,227,228,231,232,235],{},"As you may be aware, we recently increased our subscription fees by ",[73,229,230],{},"£5\u002Fterm"," to a total of\n",[73,233,234],{},"£40\u002Fterm",". This is to cover rising costs caused by the cost of living crisis and a rise in\ninsurance costs for Scouting. This increase provides us with approximately £1,250 extra income\nper fiscal year - which will be used to cover the costs of running the group, and to ensure that\nwe can continue to provide high-quality Scouting to young people in the area.",[30,237,239],{"id":238},"storage-and-equipment","Storage and Equipment",[17,241,242],{},"I'm delighted to announce that we have secured access to a shipping container provided by St\nGeorge's Church, which will be used to store our equipment and resources. This will allow us to\nstore equipment more securely, and also to ensure that we can access it more easily when we need\nit. It further allows us to procure more equipment and resources for the group, as we now have\nsignificantly more storage space.",[17,244,245],{},"I want to thank the church for their work with us to secure this container, and their ongoing\nsupport of the group as a whole.",[30,247,249],{"id":248},"church-renovations","Church Renovations",[17,251,252],{},"The St George's Church building are anticipating renovations in the not-too-distant future, which\nwill impact the delivery of Scouting in the area. We are working with the church to ensure that\nScouting can continue to operate in the area, and that we can continue to provide high-quality\nScouting to young people in the area.",[17,254,255],{},"We do not currently anticipate any disruption to our programme, however, we will keep parents\nupdated as we learn more about the renovations.",[30,257,259],{"id":258},"revised-safety-policy-and-training","Revised Safety policy and training",[17,261,262],{},"As some parents may know, there was a tragic incident in Wales in August 2018 where a young person\nlost their life due to a lack of safety precautions taken by a (different) Scout group. This has had\na profound impact on Scouting as a whole, and has led to a significant review of safety policies\nacross the country.",[17,264,265],{},"We have reviewed and revised our Safety policy to ensure that we are taking all necessary steps and\nprecautions to keep young people safe while they are with us. This includes a review of our risk\nassessments for general activities, and a review of our emergency procedures.",[17,267,268],{},"We have never had a serious incident in the group, and we are committed to ensuring that it stays\nthat way. All adults in our group will be required to complete a new safety training module in the\ncoming months, which will cover the new safety policy and procedures. For further details on\nthe national changes, please visit The Scout Association's website.",[17,270,271],{},"Note that Safety and Safeguarding, while both instrumental in keeping young people safe, are\nseparate policies and procedures. We have also reviewed our Safeguarding policy and procedures\nas part of a separate national review of Safeguarding procedures. At the bottom of all pages on\nthis page is a yellow banner with information about how to report a safeguarding concern. This is\nnot in response to any specific incident, but rather a proactive measure to ensure that young\npeople are kept safe while in our care.",[30,273,275],{"id":274},"group-policies","Group Policies",[17,277,278],{},"As I alluded to earlier, we have reviewed and revised a number of our group policies this year to\nensure that we are operating in line with the rules of the Scout Association, and to ensure that we\nare providing the best possible experience for young people in the group.",[17,280,281,282,286],{},"All group policies are available on our ",[112,283,285],{"href":284},"\u002Fpolicy","Policy Hub"," which serves as the sole repository\nfor all group policies and procedures. This is to ensure that parents and volunteers can easily\naccess the information they need, and to ensure that we can keep policies up-to-date as the group\ngrows and changes.",[17,288,289,290,293],{},"We write new policies periodically and as required. These policies are supplementary to the\nnational ",[20,291,292],{},"Policy, Organisation and Rules"," (POR) which is the definitive national set of guidelines\nto how Scouting should - and must - be run.",[30,295,297],{"id":296},"agm","AGM",[17,299,300],{},"Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled for mid-September. We'll be putting out Online\nScout Manager invitations to all parents and volunteers in the coming weeks, and we hope to see\nas many of you there as possible. We'll be also using this as an opportunity to present some of\nour young people with their Chief Scout's Awards - the highest award a young person can achieve\nin our group, as recognition of their hard work and dedication to Scouting.",[17,302,303],{},"Please do come along if you can - it's a great opportunity to meet other parents and volunteers,\nhear about our progress and future plans, ask questions and get involved in the governance of\nthe group.",[30,305,307],{"id":306},"summer-holidays","Summer Holidays",[17,309,310],{},"We're now on our Summer break, with no meetings until September. Our sections meet in accordance\nwith the Newcastle City Council school term dates, and we'll be back in September for another\nexciting year of Scouting.",[30,312,314],{"id":313},"moving-on","Moving on",[17,316,317],{},"If your child is reaching or has reached the upper age limit for their section, we'll be in touch\nover the holidays to discuss moving them to the next section. If you have any questions about\nthis, please do get in touch with your section leader or myself.",[30,319,321],{"id":320},"conclusion","Conclusion",[17,323,324],{},"It's been a fantastic year for the group, and I personally can't wait to see what we get up to as a\ngroup in the 2024\u002F25 academic year. I also want to thank you, the parents and carers of our young\npeople for your continued support of the group - your engagement and support is what makes the\ngroup what it is.",[17,326,327],{},"On behalf of the leadership team, I want to wish you and your family a fantastic, restful, and\nhopefully sunny (compared to Summer so far...) holidays, and we look forward to welcoming you back\nin September.",[17,329,330],{},"Yours in Scouting,",[17,332,333],{},"Phil Gibson, Group Lead Volunteer",{"title":335,"searchDepth":336,"depth":336,"links":337},"",2,[338,339,340,341,342,343,344,345,346,347,348,349,350,351,352,353,354],{"id":32,"depth":336,"text":33},{"id":45,"depth":336,"text":46},{"id":55,"depth":336,"text":56},{"id":121,"depth":336,"text":122},{"id":150,"depth":336,"text":151},{"id":180,"depth":336,"text":181},{"id":195,"depth":336,"text":196},{"id":213,"depth":336,"text":214},{"id":223,"depth":336,"text":224},{"id":238,"depth":336,"text":239},{"id":248,"depth":336,"text":249},{"id":258,"depth":336,"text":259},{"id":274,"depth":336,"text":275},{"id":296,"depth":336,"text":297},{"id":306,"depth":336,"text":307},{"id":313,"depth":336,"text":314},{"id":320,"depth":336,"text":321},"A review of the 2023\u002F24 school year in Scouting.","md",{},true,"\u002Fparents\u002F2023-24-academic-year",{"title":5,"description":355},{"loc":359},"parents\u002F2023-24-academic-year","HX1RVB2z_0AmhoR_hYkugTswG2wQLWLya2KVt2boFU0",1791905502644]