Beavers
We thought you would like to know a little more about Beavers before your first visit to our Beaver Colony. We hope that you enjoy yourself, learn lots of new things and make some new friends during your stay with us.
Beavers are young people aged 6 to 8 who:
- Master new skills and try new things
- Have fun and go on adventures
- Make friends
- Are curious about the world around them
- Help others and make a difference, in their own communities and beyond
All Beavers are members of the global Scout family.
Closer to home, they’re also part of a wider local Scout Group, alongside Cubs (aged 8 to 10½) and Scouts (aged 10 ½ to 14). When they’re older, they can join Explorers (for 14- to 18-year-olds) and – eventually – Scout Network (for our young adult members aged 18 to 25).
Each Colony is made up of young people aged 6 to 8, led by an adult Beaver leader.
As well as the Beaver leader, other adults are on hand to supervise activities, share their skills and keep everyone safe. The safeguarding of young people in our care is very important. The Scout Association has various processes in place to ensure that appropriate adults can take up volunteering opportunities including regular DBS checks. Other young people aged 14 to 18 might help too. These are Explorer Scouts taking part in the Explorer Scout Young Leader programme.
Beavers are also part of a Lodge. A lodge is a smaller group of Beavers, headed up a Lodge Leader and an Assistant Lodge Leader. These are Beavers who are chosen to take on leadership responsibilities, such as welcoming new people to the lodge, being extra helpful, or taking charge of a particular game or activity.
Where are the meetings?
Face to face meetings are normally held at the Scout Centre, Milton Road North, IP14 1EX on Wednesday evenings between 18.15 and 19.15. Please note that there is no parking available at the Scout Centre for Parents without prior agreement. Nearby parking at B&M or the Halo office (former Bosch site) has been agreed with the current owners if this is more convenient.
What about my uniform?
We suggest that you go along to the meetings for about 5/6 weeks before you consider buying your uniform. If you like Beavers, you can decide to become enrolled into the Colony and then get your uniform. Enrolment is a short ceremony where you make your Beaver Promise and are given your membership badges.
A Beaver jumper will be required and can be purchased at online
Uniform can also be purchased from Bury St. Edmunds Scout Shop: 19 Lake Avenue, Bury St. Edmunds
IP32 6HX www.buryscoutguideshop.org.uk
We will provide a Group Name Tape, a District, County and a Membership Badge. Beavers will also be provided with a woggle which identifies which ‘Lodge’ they belong to. We will provide you with a necker and t-shirt after you have paid the joining fee. Additional neckers and t-shirts can be purchased for £5.
Our Scout Group
Our Scout Group is one of 9 Scout Groups within the Stowmarket District and has a youth membership of approximately 70 young people. The Group operates sections for each age group (Beavers, Cubs and Scouts) for children of 6 to 14 years of age. The group has a partnership agreement with Phoenix Explorer Scout Unit to meet at our HQ and provide Scouting for young people from 14 to 18 years.
The group has 20 voluntary Scout Leaders, a Group Scout Leader and an Assistant Group Scout Leader to manage the different sections. Leaders are assisted by a number of regular and occasional section assistants and helpers, including parents. All adults involved in scouting have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check made before they are allowed to work with young people.
The group is an open group, which means that it is not sponsored by any authority, such as a church, and is managed by a committee made up of parents, leaders and people with special skills. The group owns and maintains it’s own headquarters (Scout Centre) and equipment.
All finances required to run the Scout Centre are raised through voluntary efforts of the committee and its supporters and the daytime letting of our headquarters.
The group seeks to achieve all of this by fostering a close partnership between leaders and parents. There are many ways in which parents can contribute to the success of our Group and we would very much like to encourage your involvement.
GDPR & Data Protection Act
The group may store details of Scouts, e.g. names, addresses, telephone number, and NHS number on computer databases (OSM). These details can be viewed at any reasonable time and will not be passed onto third parties.
Insurance
The group does not provide insurance cover for young persons clothing or equipment. You should ensure that you own insurance policies provide this cover. This is especially important when on outside activities or on camp.
Safety of our young people
The Scout Association operates a Safeguarding Policy to help protect all young people from harm. All adults working with children complete mandatory training to ensure that they have the necessary skills to look after young people.
The activities of the group are carried out strictly within the rules set out by the Scout Association. Please ensure that all young persons are collected from inside our headquarters building by a parent or another nominated adult after meetings. You are very welcome to wait inside the building.
Our Programme
We run a balanced program of fun activities which will give Beavers the opportunity to gain a wide range of activity, staged activity and challenge badges while learning skills for life.
Please visit www.scout.org.uk/beavers for more information.
Meet the Team!
Sam Hayward – Section Leader
Tracey Meads – Assistant Section Leader
Claire Foreman – Assistant Section Leader
Emma Hayward – Section Assistant
Adam Lockwood – Section Assistant
Young Leader Training Scheme?
Our Pack also welcomes Explorer Scouts and Duke of Edinburgh participants who wish to complete a period of volunteering and/or aspire to become Adult Scout Leaders in the future. We support them with their training and provide opportunities to lead and be part of a team.
How much does Beavers cost?
Being a youth member costs £7.50 per month or £30 per term. This fee contributes towards a capitation paid to The Scouts UK (which covers insurance, HQ staff, Leader resources and training etc) and helps to maintain the running costs of our outstanding Scout Centre. The fees we charge parents contribute around 50% of the running costs for the Scout Centre. The remainder is made up through fundraising. We prefer that ‘subs’ are paid by standing order or bank transfer into the group bank account although we will accept card payment at the Scout Centre (for a 1.9% fee). Alternatively, card payments for a full term can now be paid online by following this link: http://bit.ly/groupsubspayment
Please note that we do not accept cash or cheques.
For new members to the Group (i.e. not transferred from another Scout Group), there will be a one off £20 joining fee. This will provide you with a Group necker, t-shirt, uniform badges and woggle
We ask you to complete a Gift Aid form so that we can claim vital funds to operate. You can register directly on OSM or you can download and print a copy from the Parent Portal on OSM
Attendance to Beavers…
We ask that our members commit to attending meetings on a regular basis. Our Scout Group has a significant waiting list and if a Beaver does not attend for more than 4 weeks in a term without good cause, we may ask that their place in our pack is offered to somebody else waiting to join.
Communicating with you
We utilise a management tool called OSM which allows us to communicate our programme and events to all Parents. Please keep an eye on your e-mail junk folder as often our e-mails / invites end up there!
You may need to create a login and password to access but after this you can check the page regularly for programme updates / event invites directly related to your young person.
We often ask for a YES/NO response to an activity invite. Either response is OK and it means that we don’t (or the system doesn’t) chase you! From the parent portal on OSM, you can update us with important information such as medical, dietary and photograph permissions etc. You can also view, print and download a unique calendar feed for our program. The calendar feed works on most platforms!
We also have a closed Facebook page. If you would like to join, please search for 1st and 3rd Stowmarket Beavers and request to join.
You can always contact us by email: beavers@stowscouts.org.uk
And finally…
Scouting is a voluntary organisation and our Leaders willingly give many hours of their time to help deliver an exciting program of activities for young people.
Perhaps you could help us too? There are many different and rewarding roles for volunteers in Scouting, all designed to suit your needs and availability. We provide training, cups of tea. cheese and biscuits around the campfire, and a very warm welcome!
Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch or visit www.scouts.org.uk or email us beavers@stowscouts.org.uk.