Around half of our Groups have made plans to be able to offer face to face activities, within our Readiness Framework and we’ve seen some brilliant examples of COVID-safe activities that have been taking place – from grass sledging to small campfires. Thank you to everyone who has been able to make these activities happen.
If you’re a volunteer within a Section in Merseyside and haven’t yet put plans in place, we wanted to share some useful information to help you prepare. We know there are still some challenges, for some Sections to return to face to face activities, including the readiness and availability of volunteers and the accessing of third-party buildings. Over the coming months, we’re supporting the national #GoodForYou volunteer recruitment campaign and are encouraging Groups who own and manage their own facilities to consider how they can be made available to other Groups who rely in third-party facilities which are not currently available for our use.
Getting back together.
The Scouts Framework is aligned with Government-approved guidance for the youth sector developed by the National Youth Agency. This framework will apply in every nation within UK Scouting and walks through:
- the permissions process for restarting any face-to-face activity
- the key considerations to be ready to restart face-to-face activities and how these will be phased
- legal and liability conditions
- key control measures for everyone to follow
The Scouts have also prepared a simple step by step guide for leaders to work through the process, providing you with a COVID-19 restart checklist to download and complete which will help you track your progress in getting your section back together.
You’re not alone . Don’t forget you’re not in this alone. Consult with your leadership team so that everyone is involved and you know what resource you have to restart face to face activities, remembering not everyone will feel comfortable or able to resume their roles as they previously did. Your Group Scout Leader and Executive Committee also need to support you moving forward.
