No longer a member or leaving us? Please see the bold text near the bottom.
Dear parents and carers
I hope the return to school has been successful and everything is settling down.
I’m really pleased to finally be able to say we’re back! Well, at least in a limited fashion.
Cubs will be the first section to return to face to face sessions, beginning on 15th September. Due to the size of the Cub pack and number of leaders we have, along with the required ratios, we have to split the Cubs into three groups – so will be meeting every three weeks. Cub parents will receive an email invite from Parent Portal (MyScout) for the week that is their young person’s turn. Please respond to that email by clicking the link to either tell us you’re coming or tell us you’re not. This is really important as if you don’t tell us you’re coming, we may allocate the space to someone else. If that happened and you then turn up it would put us in the awkward position of having to turn you away. Ian (Cub Leader) will be emailing more details to let you know who will be invited which weeks. Timings and arrival/departure details will be in the email and it’s so important to stick to them carefully. The webpage (https://www.11thfolkestonescouts.org.uk/getting-back-together-safely/) has been fully updated and contains everything you will need to know. Please do take a look.
Beavers will be next with a Zoom meeting for all Beavers on the 15th September, just for a hello and check in before hopefully returning the Tuesday after to the hall. Again, it has to be small groups so will be every other week. Leaders will be in touch via email directly in the near future.
Explorers will be holding a Zoom meeting on 16th September to discuss plans and decide what they want to do from there.
Scouts will get an email from Kate (Scout Leader) soon about arrangements as well.
Due to the updated guidance from The Scouts nationally as well as the government, Scouts and Explorers will be expected to wear face coverings (where not exempt) at meetings inside, although not outside. The email from Parent Portal will point out when they are and are not required. Leaders may or may not be wearing a face covering, depending on whether or not they are leading an activity. The wearing of face coverings outdoor or by our younger sections is completely down to parents/young people’s choice.
I’ve got a few little jobs to ask parents to complete to help us make this a success:
It’s really important that our records are up to date, so please do go online to Parent Portal and check the details. If the ‘confirm your details’ button is visible, it’s even more important that your check it’s right and click the button. If anything goes awry, the details we have in Parent Portal are the key details we will need. I promise it’s quick and easy to do via Parent Portal – which works brilliantly on your smartphone.
Here https://www.11thfolkestonescouts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Our-keeping-safe-code.pdf is a copy of Our Keeping Safe Code that we are using for all meetings. Please could you take a moment to discuss it with your young person. We’ll be talking about it the beginning of every meeting but it really helps for young people to arrive already knowing about it and what to expect.
If you are receiving this email and your young person is no longer a member, or doesn’t wish to come back, could you please let me know – hitting reply to this email will get straight back to me – so we can update our records and release spaces for new members who wish to join us.
Finally, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact either your section leader or me. Email is the easiest; Beavers – jacqui@11th.org.uk, Cubs – ian@11th.org.uk, Scouts – kate@11th.org.uk, Explorers – ben@11th.org.uk or me – craig@11th.org.uk. You can also ring on 01303 720270 or text (or call!) 07537 149309 and the right person will get back in touch with you.
Hopefully I’ll see you all in person soon!
Best wishes
Craig
Group Scout Leader