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Perfect partners

How working with other organisations can work for you

It’s all about Chew The story of a new Scout Group

S T N U O C S U S outing c S N r e t E t e b C r Y makes fo n o i t c e EWVhyEacR l l o c curate data k

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Published by The Adult Support Team The Scout Association Gilwell Park, Bury Road Chingford, London E4 7QW

Welcome

Scouting for all

Contributions to Focus@scouts.org.uk ADVERTISING Richard Ellacott richard.ellacott@thinkpublishing.co.uk Tel: 020 8962 1258 Contributors Jenni Anderson, Tim Kidd, Jean Marshall, Laura McManus County: Although in some parts of the British Isles Scout Counties are known as Areas or Islands – and in one case Bailiwick – for ease of reading this publication simply refers to County/Counties. In Scotland there is no direct equivalent to County or Area. In Scotland, Scouting is organised into Districts and Regions, each with distinct responsibilities. Some ‘County’ functions are the responsibility of Scottish Regions, whilst others lie with Scottish Districts. The focus of responsibility is outlined in Scottish variations from POR.

By understanding the needs of our local communities we can ensure Scouting is something everyone can enjoy, says Laura McManus

Adult Support Team The Scout Association, Gilwell Park, Chingford; London E4 7QW; Tel: 0845 300 1818 email adult.support@scouts.org.uk

Download all section supplements at www.scouts.org.uk/magazine BE LE PURP ovy

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The Scout Group where I am a Beaver Scout Leader is lucky enough to own its property, and a few years ago we were able to make the building fully accessible. This meant that we could say yes to a Beaver Scout joining who has multiple disabilities. We wouldn’t have been able to do this if we hadn’t taken the time to look around the building and make the necessary changes. Turn to page eight to find out how you can do the same.

The debate is buzzing around the table

Knot enough

n entertai

Building in the changes

Hot topics

Globe Trekker

Tips and advice for those overseas trips

D Y GOO MUDD

Two of the key policies of The Scout Association state that Scouting should be open to all young people and adults who wish to join. As a manager in Scouting it is part of your role to uphold the key policies, and in this issue we will look at the advantages of implementing those on equal opportunities and religion.

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CREATE ...

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Making the census count We also look at the 2011 Census (page six), examining the reasons behind the change of format, including interviews with one Group Scout Leader who used different methods to collect the data. Collecting this more detailed information will let us know if Scouting is reflecting local communities.

... your own Group or County logo www.scouts.org.uk /bra nd

In Focus 4 News The latest news for managers in Scouting

6 Making sense of the census Sheridan Allman reflects on the changes to data collection

8 Planning permissions Help even more people enjoy Scouting by carrying out a simple accessibility audit of your buildings

10 Chews flash: New Scout Group for Somerset We visit the 1st Chew Stoke Scout Group

12 The right partners How building partnerships with other organisations in your local area can benefit your Scouting

14 On the move Scouting is a movement, let’s keep it that way, says Chief Commissioner Tim Kidd

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News and views

The latest news for managers in Scouting

New online support for managers

Do you have a celebrity next door?

Our National Scouting Ambassadors work hard to promote Scouting to the wide variety of people they know. We also call on them to help us get the general public interested in Scouting, both young people and potential volunteers.

There are ways everyone can use Ambassadors to help at a regional level. You may not realise it, but someone local to you with a high profile might be perfect to support Scouting in your area. If you think you know someone or would like to learn more please contact Beth Gooch, Leader of Ambassador and Luminary Relationships at beth.gooch@scouts.org.uk

An apology

In an article published in the June/July Focus supplement (page 11, ‘AGM = A Good Meeting’) some of the information was incorrect. Advice on running an executive meeting was included by mistake.

We are keen to share correct information and support about how to run both an AGM and an executive committee meeting, and this can be found within the resource A Guide for The Group Chairman, available from www.scouts.org.uk/infocentre If you have any questions on running an AGM or executive meeting contact the Information Centre on 0845 300 1818.

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A new area within the Member Resources section of www.scouts. org.uk has been created to help you in your Scouting role.

Go to www.scouts.org.uk/ managers to get easy access to a wide range of resources to help you with the challenging aspects of your role, from carrying out reviews and dealing with disputes to recruiting new volunteers.

The information is for Group Scout Leaders, District Commissioners and County/Area Commissioners/ Regional Commissioners (Scotland).

It is based on requests for specific advice and support from managers.

We are always looking for new ideas about good leadership and management in Scouting so please email us at managers@scouts.org.uk to share yours. This support and advice is based on feedback from you.

We can also offer support to managers face-to-face. Do get in touch if you think your County/ Area/Region would benefit from having a speaker from Headquarters to help your managers understand the managerial aspects of their role more clearly, answer questions and introduce the content on the managers’ area of Member resources.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on how we can develop the managers’ area further, and hope it is of use in your role.

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News

Community Scout Week pilot a hit

T

he first Community Scout Week trial event was a great success, with Scout Groups performing tasks to improve their local areas and the lives of those who live there.

They also fundraised for their Groups and used it to raise awareness of Scouting in their community.

Gardening, building bird boxes, painting buildings and litter picking were just some of the projects carried out by the eight Scout Groups who took part in May’s pilot. All agreed that it had been a positive experience. Funds were raised for Scouting and new volunteers recruited. They also provided us with some feedback that will be used to help develop the project into a national initiative. The next Community Scout Week is planned for 2012.

Has your Group, District or County had a Big Adventure?

r’s e m m u s his t r o f y Read adventure? biggest

The Big Adventure ends on 31 August.

If you have taken part we’d like to hear how it went.

District Commissioner Sharn Race’s Bradford Big Adventure is just one that has taken place this year. She saw the Big Adventure as a perfect fit for the District Camp: ‘We wanted a camp that would excite our young people, enthuse 20 Month 2010 our leadership 11am to 4pm team and encourage parents to participate in Scouting. The Come along and help out at our Big Adventure parents helped assist on the activities, this summer. Adults are invited to share the fun which fantastic as it freed up with us was (no experience necessary). trained to actually run them.

By joiningleaders our team you will: • help our young people have Five parents helped in fun the kitchen. All • learn new skills parents had a fantastic time and I have • experience the adventure of Scouting received positive feedback both during and after camp.

Name of the Scout Group ‘The Big Adventure is a fantastic tool.

Name of Venue/location I am thrilled at the outcome from our Street Address, Big Adventure; Town, County,I hope that you will be too.’ call Contact Name on 01234 567890team with Email the Adult Support or email your Bigc.name@scout.org.uk Adventure success stories and www.yourgroupwebsiteaddress.org.uk top tips at adult.support@scouts.org.uk

Name of Event

scouts.org.uk/thebigadventure The Scout Association Registered Charity Numbers 306101 (England and Wales) and SC038437 (Scotland).

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Find out how to get involved by emailing the Fundraising Team at fundraising@scouts.org.uk

You can find Scouting on all of the main social networking websites.

Become a fan on Facebook (www.scouts.org.uk/facebook), follow Scouting on Twitter (@UKScouting) or subscribe to YouTube (www.scouts.org.uk/tv).

It’s a great way to connect and receive the latest updates and news as it happens.

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Making Census This year the diversity questions in our Scouting Census were slightly different, and asked for fuller information than in previous years.

Sheridan Allman, Technical Adviser (Diversity), explains why the additional information is so valuable

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Census

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n the October/November 2010 Focus supplement, I drew your attention to the upcoming changes in the census, and in particular the business of gathering information on ethnicity and disability. So at a number of events earlier this year, I took the opportunity of asking some District Commissioners and Group Scout Leaders how they felt the census exercise had gone.

Inevitably there was some robust discussion, with some people feeling uncomfortable or puzzled as to why we needed to gather this information. Other suggestions were made about improvements in the process. Overall, the feedback in these discussions was positive, but this is a good time to remind ourselves of why we need this information, and how we can use it to improve and develop Scouting.

Two of our objectives as an organisation are to reflect the communities that we serve, and to make Scouting available to as many young people as want to join us.

Standard practice One particular issue that some Group Scout Leaders reported was discomfort about asking parents more detailed questions. It’s important to remember that most parents do recognise that forms with these sorts of questions are standard practice in schools and health centres etc, and therefore the Association is merely reflecting societal norms in 2011.

Looking to the future Next January, the census will be asking the same questions with respect to ethnicity and disabilities, and hopefully leaders will become gradually more aware of the positive reasons behind these questions, and more comfortable explaining these to parents.

Find out more at www.scouts.org.uk/census

Since 2007 we have been successful in growing the Movement, but we know that there are still communities that are not part of our Scouting population.

Some examples of under-represented groups might be those from socially-disadvantaged areas of the UK (both rural and urban), young carers, people from a variety of faith communities, the Black African and African-Caribbean communities, or the newer immigrant populations from Eastern Europe.

By comparing our extended census data with national statistics we can now start to look at where the opportunities are for recruitment across different kinds of communities – to help us target our efforts.

Special needs A lot of good progress has been made in welcoming young people and adults with special needs into our Groups. However, we also realise that we would be able to provide more focused training and appropriate resourcing if we had a more informed view. Census data can give us more information about the variety of challenges/disabilities that we are dealing with, and the confidence levels of our leaders in providing a suitable programme and activities.

One Group Scout Leader who had a positive experience with the new Census questions was Angela Harwood, of 1st Denmead Scout Group ‘To obtain the information for the census this year, I emailed all the parents in my Group asking them for the information.

I explained why it was needed, and gave them a copy of the explanatory notes.

Everyone seemed happy to respond.

‘The information regarding disabilities was useful to us, as parents do not always realise that it helps us as leaders to support their children. If we better understand the potential challenges, we will be better equipped to deal with them.’

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Planning permissions Help even more people enjoy Scouting by carrying out a simple accessibility audit of your Scout buildings. Rex Stevens and Peter Hills explain

A

key part of making Scouting open to everyone is examining accessibility to activities. Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, all buildings used for providing a service to the public (including Scout buildings) are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure proper disabled access to their premises by carrying out regular checks and balances.

One very easy way to set about improving this is by carrying out an accessibility audit, using the questionnaire available from the Accessible Scouting pages in the Member Resources section of www.scouts.org.uk The audit isn’t a particularly long or complicated task, with most questions requiring a simple yes or no answer.

The whole process shouldn’t take more than about 20 minutes, and an ideal time to carry it out would be during, or after, a Group Executive or Leaders’ meeting.

Once you’ve carried out the audit, the next step depends on who actually owns the buildings where you meet.

If your meeting place is owned

by Scouting There are lots of inexpensive things that you can do 8

'For some young people and potential volunteers with disabilities, the obstacle may be that they can’t physically enter or use the facilities in their local Scout building.' straight away to improve access to your buildings. For more substantial improvements, the Group can put together a plan for future works to be carried out, including any necessary fundraising.

You might also realise you are eligible for funding to help improve your premises. There are a number of grants available from The Scout Association through the Development Grants Board. While these are understandably restricted, it’s worth looking at www.scouts.org.uk/dgb to see if you qualify.

If your meeting place is owned by someone else If you hire your premises, for example a church hall or a school building, then you just need to complete the audit and give a copy of it to whoever is responsible for the building. Simply dropping the form through their letterbox

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Accessibility

Case study:

Getting help from the Development Grants Board

attached might not be the best way, so why not invite them along to join you as you complete the form?

Need more advice?

If you’ve got any questions about making your Scout buildings more accessible, our Diversity Team will be happy to provide you with any information and advice.

To get in touch, drop them an email at diversity@scouts.org.uk

Some easy ways to improve accessibility • Put stickers on glass doors to ensure that visually-impaired people can see them.

• Mark the edges of steps with brightlycoloured tape to make them easy to see.

• Make a sign to designate a disabled parking bay.

One example of funding available from The Scout Association’s Development Grants Board is the Special Needs Fund (formerly known as the Treloar Fund). This is used to assist individual Scouts with disabilities, and for the general development of Scouting for those with special needs.

As part of more extensive building works at their building, the 1st Norwich Sea Scout Group decided that installing a disabled lift on the quay would help them to provide better access to the water.

According to Assistant Group Scout Leader Charles Bartram, ‘Another Group based nearby who do not have their own outside facilities, but that support Scouts with special needs, had shown interest in using the facilities, so full accessibility was a major consideration and a lift on the quay an obvious requirement.’

The Group themselves did a lot of fundraising, but they were also awarded a grant from the Special Needs Fund to help them, and the work was completed in March of this year.

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Chews Flash:

New Scout Group for Somerset There's smiles all around at the launch of the new 1st Chew Stoke Scout Group. Jean Marshall, Regional Development Officer, tells us how it all began

O

n 26 March 2011, at Chew Stoke Village Primary School over 150 people attended the opening of the 1st Chew Stoke Scout Group.

Everyone had a smile on their face, not least the 50+ young people and nine adults, who all made their promise to officially become members of The Scout Association.

The newly formed Executive Committee, made up of parents who are new to Scouting, were there and ensured everyone had tea and cake to aid the celebrations. The young people started the afternoon of fun with amusing sketches to entertain the guests. By the end of the afternoon a local businessman had volunteered to sponsor the Cub flag, and by the end of the weekend the parish council had contacted the Group Secretary to offer sponsorship for another section flag.

'The young people started the afternoon of fun with amusing sketches to entertain the guests.'

Neil Salter, the County Commissioner for Avon Scouts was pleased with the launch: 'It is great to welcome 1st Chew Stoke into the Scout family where they join 31 million Scouts from around the world. Scouting will give 10

these young people countless opportunities to develop their life skills by taking part in many varied activities and providing the fun and adventure that they seek.'

Seven months to make a difference It took just seven months to open the new Scout Group and the project was supported by Wansdyke Scout District Team and the South West Regional Development Service.

Janet Turner, District Commissioner for Wansdyke, knew that there was a demand for Scouting in the Chew Valley area because the number of enquiries from local families about joining Scouting was increasing.

Janet contacted the South West Regional Development Service (SWRDS) to ask if they could support the District to open a Group in Chew Stoke. The District Team, together with the SWRDS, held an open day in Chew Stoke for the local community and for people from the surrounding villages. The day was promoted through the parish magazine, local businesses and primary schools. Over 46 families attended to have a go at the free activities and to find out more about Scouting. Before long, over 90 young people and over 45 adults had expressed an interest in joining and helping out.

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Case study

Turning interest into volunteering In the following weeks, the adults who showed an interest in helping were contacted and meetings arranged.

Members of the District team, volunteers from other Groups within the District and the SWRDS talked with them about volunteering in practice.

From these meetings and discussions there was enough adult support to open Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and form an Executive Committee. With support from other experienced leaders from across the District the first meetings for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts took place

in the following weeks.

Nick Sealy, Beaver Scout Leader, was one of the first onboard: ‘As a new leader, it’s been a great pleasure to help get our Scout Group off the ground and to see the Beavers settle into having some serious fun. We’ve got a really enthusiastic leadership team and because there are seven of us, we can be flexible around each other’s work and family commitments. There’s plenty of support and training on offer to parents who think they’d like to be involved. And there’s nothing like watching your son and his friends have their first go at abseiling, aged six.’

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The right partners Partnerships can be great for Scouting, says The and Association’s Assistant Director of Fundraising to Marketing, Jenni Anderson, but you do need line ed dott think carefully before signing on the

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couting’s brand is highly respected locally and nationally. Delivering fun, challenge and adventure while making a positive impact in our communities, we are seen as ethical, trusted and a ‘force for good’. This makes Scouting’s brand, and therefore any association with Scouting, very valuable to businesses and other charities.

• a presence at local events • access to Scouts themselves to make presentations and gain support for their activities • company or charity logos on local Scouting literature • support with local PR or media work (using Scouts in photo calls, and so on).

Why partner with Scouting?

In these situations, it can sometimes be hard to tell if you are getting value for money. Often the benefit for the company is far greater than it is for Scouting. Always try to identify the value and return to Scouting before entering into a partnership, this could include: • cash (eg sponsorship) • ‘value in kind’ goods or services (eg a new kitchen or the labour to fit it out) • royalties – a percentage of income from tickets or products sold via members Ask yourself, is the company asking for you to provide more than the value (in time or money) that they are giving to you?

Companies, charities and organisations are always looking for ways to: • access and influence new groups of adults and young people to raise money, buy, use, promote or endorse their services • associate themselves with highly respected organisations to help build up trust in their service or product.

Often these approaches are well meaning. Companies will often offer discounts, special offers and access to their facilities to help support projects in their local area.

Sometimes, these offers come with a ‘no strings’ commitment – they are not looking for a return or public recognition for their contribution. On other occasions, they will want some sort of return. This could be in the form of: • a local Scout logo on their website or corporate literature • access to local mailing lists 12

Who benefits most?

Should it be a national partnership?

If you are working with a business which could offer additional benefit to Scouting in other areas, then get in contact with a member of the fundraising team at Gilwell Park – fundraising@scouts.org.uk or call us on 020 8433 7100.

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Partnerships

'Scouting’s brand, and therefore any association with Scouting [is] very valuable to businesses and other charities.'

Respect other people’s brands • Make sure you have written permission to use partners’ brand trademarks

The dos and don’ts of partnerships

DON’T Approach head offices • Please avoid forming a local partnership with the head office of a national company or organisation. If you are approached by a national company please contact the fundraising team.

Form partnerships outside your area • A County/Area/District/Group should not make an approach to organisations outside their local boundary, except where the organisation states specifically that they support work within that County/Area/District/ Group. You should not offer activity or promotion to a company or business outside of your local boundary.

DO Respect our brands and logos • Scouting logos, badges and other trademarks are the property of The Scout Association. They cannot be assigned locally without permission of UK Headquarters (see POR 14.7 and 14.8). If you form a partnership it must be clear that it is a local initiative Use your local logo, not the national logo • You may assign your local logo but again, consider the advice to ensure you are getting a ‘fair deal’ – many Districts or Groups do not ask for money.

Think carefully before creating a badge • If a corporation or business requests you create an occasional badge to publicise a specific product or scheme, think through the educational and financial benefits of this to your Group, District or County. Please refer to POR 10.33 – which allows the creation of occasional badges with County Commissioner approval.

Approach regional offices only • Regional offices or branches of national businesses can be approached without consulting Headquarters, but please do contact us for advice to ensure you get the ‘best deal’.

find out more

Factsheet FS190018 – Fundraising for Local Scouting, Factsheet FS103833 – The Scout Association’s Copyrights and Trademarks The Scout Association’s Brand Guidelines at www.scouts.org.uk/brand If you are unsure on any aspect, or need more help or advice please speak to one of our team at fundraising@scouts.org.uk or call us on 020 8433 7100.

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On the move

As volunteer managers we need to adapt to our ever-changing world and ensure Scouting moves forward with it, says Tim Kidd

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ometimes the best way to go backwards is simply to stay still. Founder Baden-Powell intentionally recognised Scouting as a ‘movement’ – he saw it as a living entity that in order to grow must adapt and change.

The truth is that we live in a fast-changing world. If we are to make Scouting attractive to young people and (of course) as easy as possible for volunteers to provide, then we must be prepared to do things differently and keep it feeling fresh. This is a tall order sometimes.

We don’t always react well to change; it can be unsettling and take time to make the change work. But the beauty of Scouting is that we can use the power of many people to change and improve it. To do this we have to be brave.

Why good management matters This skill of looking for, encouraging and acting on ideas for change is one of the key skills that we expect of a good manager in Scouting. There are six key skills areas in total and these are explored together with some practical resources on a new part of the website, which you will find at www.scouts.org.uk/managers. You will also find 14

resources to help you carry out your role effectively. (see page 4 for more details).

In this issue we look at how you might change your Scouting in a number of ways to offer the adventure to even more young people. So take the plunge and see what you can do.

six of the best

The six aspects of good Scouting leadership and management 1. Providing direction 2. Working with people 3. Achieving results 4. Enabling change 5. Using resources 6. Managing your time and personal skills Visit www.scouts.org.uk/managers for more information

Tim Kidd is Chief Commissioner for England. Contact him at focus@scouts.org.uk

Focus August/September 2011

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