Coronavirus

Last updated 10:00 Thursday 27 January 2022

The Scouts readiness level in England has now changed to status ‘GREEN’. This means that activities can continue, and residential events (camps and sleepovers) may take place, but with some additional precautions.

It’s important that you read all this to understand how we will be running Beavers, Cubs and Scouts over the coming weeks. 

Given that we’re still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll be taking sensible precautions at activities. This email will let you know the steps we’ve taken to make sure we keep everyone safe. 

As the autumn and winter progress, we will follow Scout Association guidance and rules, which in turn are driven by the government roadmap from time to time. 

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms, or who has been in contact with anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms (within the last two weeks), shouldn’t come to any face-to-face activities, and should follow government guidelines on self-isolation and testing. 

Young people who are shielding or are in another vulnerable group might not be able to return to face-to-face activities at this stage. If your child’s shielding or in another vulnerable group, please contact Paul Stretch, the Group Scout Leader, directly so he can chat through some options. 

We’re also aware some young people, including young people with additional needs, might need new or different reasonable adjustments putting in place to support a return to face-to-face Scouts – again, we’re happy to discuss this with you. 

I’d also like to let you know some of the updates to our arrangements for making sure our activities will be COVID-responsible. 

Outdoor activities 

• Activities over the coming weeks will often be outside but as we can operate inside, we will do so where that is necessary because of weather, or the type of activity planned.  
• Please send your child suitably dressed for the conditions – weather, wet grass etc. So, warm clothes, waterproof coat and boots if necessary. 
• We will, where possible, provide shelter from rain. 

Indoor activities 

• If we run activities indoors, we will manage group sizes, increase ventilation etc in line with our risk assessment and current guidance. 
• If we are inside, we will ventilate the building as much as possible, so warm clothing is still needed. 

Nights Away – Camps and Sleepovers 

• We can now run residential camps and sleepovers, with some sensible precautions to reduce infection risks.  We will contact you about these events once we have them planned. 

Consent 

• We no longer need explicit parental consent, so we will be returning to our previous ways of registering attendance with Online Scout Manager (OSM). 

Hand sanitisation, hygiene and personal protective equipment 

• Hand sanitizing will be available at activities and young people will be able to use the facility at the start and finish of each activity and when using any equipment. 

Social distancing 

• We no longer need to stick to 2m social distancing, but we will try to arrange activities to reduce contact. 

We understand that there’s a lot to take in, but we are taking the safety of our young members and adult volunteers very seriously. 

We also plan to chat with young people themselves about this too and will be briefing young people at each meeting on the requirements that need to be met to keep everyone safe. 

We’re all looking forward to getting face- to-face activities back up and running again, so we can gain more skills and have more fun together. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns. 

We do have to remain flexible in the coming months because government guidance can change at short notice. We will do our best to keep you informed and this will be by email in the first instance so you should check your in-box before setting out for Scouts each week. 

Look forward to seeing you soon!