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.
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.
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.
For their first few weeks, your young person will come along to meetings, get a feel for the section and hopefully settle in as a new member. They may wear their own clothes during this time.
Towards the end of their first term, if they are happy and want to continue with Scouting, we will ask you at that point to buy them a uniform (see below) and then perform their Investiture. This is the formal ceremony where we welcome them into Scouting. We will ask them to say their Promise, and then give them a membership award and a neckerchief. From that point on, your young person is a member of Scouts.
More information can be found on the Scout Association website about investitures for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, along with information about the Promise.
Our section leaders develop a varied and engaging programme which allows our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts to work towards a number of different badges. There are two main types of badges which can be earned:
Activity badges are earned for trying a new activity or learning a new skill and details of all of the activity badges available can be found on the Scout Association website for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.
Challenge awards are earned over time, and achievement of all Challenge awards leads to being awarded the Chief Scouts' Bronze Award (for Beavers), Silver Award (for Cubs) and Gold Award (for Scouts).
When you join, you will be invited to sign up for Online Scout Manager (OSM). You can use OSM to see details of the programme, details of which badges your young person has earned/is working towards, and what things you could complete at home to work towards badge completion in your own time.
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.
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.
Each of our sections have various opportunities to attend camps or other overnight activities.
For Beavers, we run an annual 'Beavers sleepover' at our Activity and Training Centre. For many Beavers, this is the first time they have been away from home without family and they usually find it to be a really enjoyable and exciting experience.
For Cubs and Scouts, there are usually two or three camps or trips away each year.
In your first half-term as a member, we will ask you to pay a £20 joining fee to cover the cost of your neckerchief (which you will receive at your investiture). (Please click here to make payment if you have been asked to do so.)
If you leave the group during your first half-term, no further payments will be due.
After your first half term is complete, you will then be asked to pay membership fees. This is set at £240 per year, and payment is requested in six equal half-termly instalments of £40 (though no payment is requested for the first half term of membership). We use ParentPay to collect membership fee payments; you will receive a letter from our Group Treasurer with details of how to set up a ParentPay account (or how to add 1st Nailsea Scouts to your existing account if you already use ParentPay).
We ask all parents/carers to complete a Gift Aid form, either to allow us to claim Gift Aid on membership fees paid, or to let us know that you are ineligible for Gift Aid or unwilling for us to claim it on your behalf.
1st Nailsea Scouts is a charity which is run entirely by volunteers. As well as our leaders, assistant leaders and section assistants, we have a team of Trustees who are responsible for the governance of the charity, plus a support team who help with all of the 'behind the scenes' work such as maintaining our premises, fundraising and looking after the minibuses. The overall direction and management of the group is the responsibility of our Group Scout Leader.
We are always keen for new volunteers to come forward. If you are interested, please see our volunteering page for more information.
Our current volunteering team are listed below:
River Avon Beavers (Friday)
Nicole (Green Beaver) - Section Leader and Group Scout Leader
John (Red Fox) - Assistant Section Leader
Rachel - Assistant Section Leader
Jenny - Assistant Section Leader
River Severn Beavers (Monday)
Christine (Yellow Beaver) - Section Leader
Kevin (Silver Fox) - Assistant Section Leader
Chris - Section Leader
Netta - Section Leader
Concorde (Monday) & Compass (Tuesday) Cubs
Ellen (Baggy) - Section Leader
Angela - Assistant Section Leader
Dave - Section Assistant
Jack Warry Cubs (Wednesday)
Pip - Section Leader
Harry - Assistant Section Leader
Lucy - Assistant Section Leader
Raptor Scout Troop (Wednesday)
Alex - Section Leader
Tom - Assistant Section Leader
Tillie - Assistant Section Assistant
Tomahawk Scout Troop (Thursday)
Hallam - Section Leader
Stuart - Assistant Section Leader
Jacob - Assistant Section Leader
James - Section Assistant
Emma - Section Assistant
Trustees
Andy - Chair
Alex - Treasurer
Ed - Trustee
Sarah - Trustee
Dan - Trustee
Premises Support Team
Sam
Anderson
Keith
Minibus Support Team
Could you help us to look after our minibuses? Please see our Volunteering page for more information.
Finance/Admin Support Team
Bridget - Group Administrator
Helen - Assistant Treasurer
Aimee - Social Media Manager
Sarah - Secretary
Phil - IT Manager
Fundraising Support Team
Could you support us with fundraising? Please see our Volunteering page for more information.
Nailsea Carnival Committee
Elizabeth
Claire
Russ
Sarah
Ian
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.
