Information for Parents/Carers

This page has information for current or prospective parents/carers of members at 1st Nailsea Scouts.  If you are interested in joining our group, please visit the Our Sections page for more information about our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts sections and for a link to sign up to our waiting list. 

Welcome to 1st Nailsea Scouts

Whether you are completely new to Scouting, or whether you are a longstanding member or supporter, we hope the information on this page will be useful for parents/carers of young people who have joined us, or are planning to join us, as a Beaver, Cub or Scout.

1st Nailsea Scouts is an independent charity which is part of the UK Scout Association and the wider Scouting movement.

What is expected of me as a parent/carer?

Most of our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts sections ask for parent/carer helpers to attend meetings, either on an ad-hoc basis, or as part of a rota.  Our Scout Group is run entirely by volunteers and sometimes our sections need this additional adult help to be able to run section meetings effectively or to have an appropriate adult to young person ratio, for example when travelling in the minibuses.  We ask that you engage with these occasional requests to volunteer; additional help means that meetings and activities run more smoothly and your young person will have a more enjoyable time as a result.

We also ask you to set clear expectations for your young person about their behaviour and conduct when attending section meetings and participating in activities.  Scouting is an opportunity to have fun and make friends and our leaders would rather spend their time facilitating this than having to manage poor behaviour.  If your section leader needs to speak to you about poor behaviour, we ask that you take this seriously and discuss it with your young person.  In extreme cases, we will terminate membership due to persistent poor conduct, although this is always a last resort and something we would rather not do.

If your young person has additional needs or neurodiversity, please ensure your section leader is aware of this.  We are an inclusive organisation and our programme is designed to be flexible to support all members to take part, achieve and reach their full potential.  More information can be found on the Scout Association website.

When and where are the section meetings?  What should my young person wear?

Meeting times and locations

Section meetings are normally held during term-time only, either at our Activity and Training Centre on Clevedon Road, or sometimes in other locations depending on the activities planned by the section leader that week.  The days/times of section meetings can be found on the Our Sections page.

Each section will communicate with parents each week - usually by email, through the section's social media, or through Online Scout Manager (OSM) - to advise of specific arrangements for upcoming meetings, including travel/transport arrangements if meeting elsewhere, and whether anything specific needs to be brought along to a meeting.

Uniform

Ordinarily, our young members are expected to wear the appropriate uniform for their section.  Information about uniform for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts can be found on the Scout Association website and can be purchased from the Scout Store.  We also have a small stock of second-hand uniform available in exchange for a donation; please speak to your section leader if you need an item.

For some activities, additional protective clothing or footwear will be required, e.g. waterproofs, walking boots.  The section leader will let you know in advance where this is the case.

Any other questions?

If you have any other questions, please get in touch with your section leader, or our Group Scout Leader (gsl@1stnailseascouts.org.uk).  Other contact details can be found on our Contact page.