Badger Hill Scout Group
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Badger Hill Scout Group |
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Welcome to Badger Hill Beaver Colony
The Colony meets every Monday evening from 5.30 to 6.45pm at the Scout Headquarters in Maulden Please deliver your child promptly for 5.30 as we only have 1 1/4 hours into which to fit a great deal of fun! LEADERSRaccoon Beaver Leader Jackie Gosford Otter Administrator and Certificated Helper Helen Draycott Wolf Badger Hill Explorer Scout Amy Thacker (Young Leader helping for her Service section of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award) Moose Badger Hill Explorer Scout Emma Gosford (Young Leader helping for her Service section of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award) Both Belinda and Jackie are BT T.O.P.S Sports Coaches and the Colony are proud owners of a super kit sponsored by British Telecom. They are also hold both St Johns and Scout First Response first aid certificates, and Emma is Scout First Response trained as well. SUBSCRIPTIONSNo subscriptions are due for your child until they are enrolled which is usually within four weeks. You will be provided with a standing order form and Gift Aid declaration which arranges payment of £9.00 monthly to the Beaver account. MOBILE PHONESWe need to be able to contact you in an emergency whilst your child is in our care. Please ensure that the numbers we have on file are up to date. Jackie or Belinda’s mobile phone is on in the hut for the whole Beaver Session.UNIFORMFor the first few weeks we do not expect your child to wear uniform. Comfortable trousers and sweatshirt with tee shirt underneath (it gets hot when you’re running around) and trainers are fine. Your child will require uniform for his investiture but you will be advised of this nearer the time and also be invited to the ceremony. There is an optional Group tee-shirt which may be purchased which is also good to have for hot weather and helps us to identify your child at District events where there may be several hundred other Beavers!! We do keep a small stock of uniform items in the Colony, so do ask a leader what we have before you head for the shops! The Beaver uniform is:
Uniform may be purchased from John Lewis, or Kick Off Sports at Flitwick, and there are other suppliers listed in the equipment suppliers section of the Group Guide. We also occasionally have a visiting Scout Shop - please ask us when it is next due. PARENT HELP We are not currently running a parent rota but will call on parents from time to time to assist in evenings that require close adult supervision. Beavers should be conducted with a ratio of 1 to 6 at the Scout Hut and 1 to 4 off site. As all parents complete the CRB form you can rest assured that any adult assisting us has been cleared through the Criminal Records Bureau for being in contact with children. The Group pay a cleaner to clean the hall twice a week but we leave it tidy for her after each Section has used the hall. SUMMER GRASS CUTTING We would love you to offer to cut the grass. You can stay during the Beaver session and do this if we are not in the garden. This worked really well last year and the children love being able to go outside and use the grassed area. Please just ask us for the mower when you arrive. We do make a note of parents who help in this way as it is one of the things we ask for help with as part of your support to the Group when your child joins. PROGRAMME In each half term we aim to enjoy a visiting speaker, some art and craft, BT TOPS Sports Training, Beaver Games, Singing and mime, cooking and International evenings. We will follow seasonal events and expect to see the Beavers at St George’s Day at Woburn Parish Church in April, Remembrance Day in November and the Group Carol Concert in December. If you or your child have any comments or suggestions to make please feel free to speak to any of the leaders. INTO THE FUTURE There are now roughly 40 Beavers on the waiting list, which means that a second colony could be a going concern immediately, BUT.... only if there are leaders to run it. We have excellent support from parents coming on Mondays as helpers, and if there were a couple of parents who would take on the role of leaders we could convert the waiting list into an instant Beaver colony. No experience necessary, the present leaders "started from cold" with support and training from the Scout District and County teams, so if there is anyone out there who fancies giving it a try, either contact a leader, or email Webmaster@Badgerhillscouts.org.uk who will make sure someone contacts you directly. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT BEAVER SCOUTS Badger Hill Beaver Colony was started in 1999, shortly after the former Pulloxhill and Houghton Conquest Scout Groups amalgamated and moved to the Maulden HQ. The idea had been around for a while, but the space limitations of the church halls being used for Cubs and Scouts, and the lack of any storage, made it impossible to start a colony until the move. The Beaver Scout Promise: I promise to do my best to be kind and helpful and to love God. The Beaver Scout MottoFun and Friends The motto sums up the approach very neatly, in that it is an introduction to Scouting at a gentle pace suited to 6-8 year olds. Beavers do some Scouting activities such as Camp Fires, short hikes, and day visits to Cub Camps, but there is no overnight camping under canvas at this stage. Activities are carefully controlled to make sure they do not overstretch this age group, but are enough to give a taste of what is to come later. Due to legal restrictions, it is not possible for someone to join Beavers before their sixth birthday, but we can have flexibility over when they move on to Cubs. For full details of the various Beaver Badges and the requirements for attaining them, go to: which is the official web site of the UK Scout Association. The site contains an enormous amount of information about Scouting in the UK, together with links to other UK sites (like this one), and world-wide to the 148 countries where Scouting is active. We don't put these details on this site because Scoutbase will always have the most up-to-date information. If you or your child have any comments or suggestions to make please feel free to speak to any of the Leaders. BEAVER SCOUTS BEHAVIOUR POLICY The motto for Beavers is ‘Fun and Friends’. This is always what we measure our time at Beavers by. With between 24 and 30 Beavers at any one time it is important that everyone, children and adults, has a clear view of what behaviour we do not find acceptable as a group and with our promise of ‘I promise to do my best, to be kind and helpful and to love God’ also in mind. In rewarding kind, helpful, thoughtful, fair, good sport behaviour we give out soft toys to around five Beavers most weeks to reward them for trying hard during the evening. They are awarded by the leader/helper who represents that toy (Eagle gives out an eagle, otter an otter, elk a moose - couldn’t find an elk!). We also have ‘Scarffy’ who is awarded for the neatest tied scarf! We do give out sweets from time to time too! With regard to unacceptable behaviour, we have a tried and tested system that everyone understands and relates to and really has worked over the past 5 years. The ‘sitting out’ chair. Placed strategically and probably only used ten times over the years. Just somewhere to sit if someone misinterpreted the game rules or got a little carried away. No one is hurt, just unfair conduct. The yellow card system. These cards are only issued by Brown Bear (Leader) or Racoon (Assistant Leader). They work on the same premise as football. Two yellow cards as warnings and then a red card and, we are sorry, but you will be asked to leave Beavers. (Parents will be given the cards and an explanation given, in private, of the incident). In all the years we have run we have only had to issue a few yellow cards. Everyone knows how the system works, it is extremely successful. We will use this code of conduct with all Beavers, without exception. We are very happy to discuss any concerns you may have with this policy and how it may relate to your child’s involvement in Beavers.
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