What is Membership?

Becoming a member of the Scout Adventures Active Support Unit, is the first step in to helping Scout Adventures deliver their goals on supporting Scouts and other Young People in to the world of the Outdoors. It provides you with the opportunity to be able to come along and volunteer at our centres, being able to take part in a wide variety of projects, tasks and any other exciting things we have going on! We rely on our volunteer teams, to keep our centres going. Each of our centres has a number of International Volunteers from all over the world, running activities, cleaning, painting and anything else we have going on. By joining our team, this means supporting them, with day-to-day tasks, supporting the wider centre by getting involved with bigger projects and ensuring that anyone visiting has a great experience.

Getting Started

When you first come and volunteer with us, there is no expectation for you to become a member straight away, come down, see if you enjoy it! You'll be welcomed onto site by our amazing team of Staff and Volunteers and shown everything you need to know! You'll never be expected to do anything you are not comfortable doing and usually it will be planned in advance so you know what you're walking in to! If everything goes well and you're happy to return, then we will look at making you a member. This means taking some details, doing some basic E-Learning and also doing a DBS (Criminal Record Check). Once this has gone through, then you're membership is full! We will start with a 2 year appointment, after which, we will chat and review whether you would like to continue on or not! 

Expectations

We have set some expectations that we would like to see from our volunteers, starting with a minimum commitment to volunteering, which we have set at 1 Volunteering Session per Quarter, so 4 sessions a year. We also expect that Scout Association rules are followed (which are laid out in your E-Learning). 

In Return

So, what do you get in return for your time and skills? 

Coming and joining our team and getting involved on our centres has endless benefits! Meeting new people, working with people from all over the world, learning new cultures, learning new skills and how to use different tools and doing different jobs that you may not have had the opportunity to do before. You get to know that your work is directly benefitting young people all over the country, Scouts, Guides, School Children and any other Youth Organisation that benefits from the great things we have on offer! 

We will ensure that you get your travel costs reimbursed, if you would like them to be. We will plan to have you on centre when we have accommodation available to ensure that you have somewhere warm and comfortable to sleep! On some of our sites, we can ensure that you're fed, on others we can reimburse the costs for your food. 

You will be provided with a Scout Adventures Polo Shirt, and invested into the Scout Adventures Active Support Unit and will receive one of our Neckers should you wish you have one! 

Essentially, all in all, you will learn new skills, have the chance to upgrade your skillsets with training courses, meet some amazing international volunteers and meet our incredible centre staff teams, work with new people, have a direct impact on Scouting in the UK and most of all, have fun and enjoy yourself! 

Mandatory Scouts Training

When joining the Scout Association, it is required that some E-Learning is completed, it is 4 modules that consist of;

Module 001- An introduction to Scouts and what Scouts is all about, roughly 20 minutes, online module.
 

Safety- An introduction to keeping safe within Scouting, Risk Assessments and safe practices.
 

Safeguarding- An introduction to Scouts Safeguarding Practices. Ensuring we keep everybody safe. 
 

GDPR- A module outlining what GDPR is and how it fits within Scouts.
 

Personal Learning Plan
 

A personal learning plan can be created when joining, initially it will consist of the above 4 modules, however if you feel you need more specific training then this can be added in. 
 

Once the above modules are completed, certificates are to be sent to james.reynolds@scouts.org.uk where your training can then be updated on Compass. Safety and Safeguarding have to be re-done every 3 years to ensure we keep current and up to date with the latest advice and practices.
 

There will soon be another Module introduced, which will be specific to Scout Adventures, and give a background on who we are and what we do. This will be another E-Learning module which can be done online. 
 

Further Scout Training
 

Further training modules are available, which can be discussed when planning your Personal Learning Plan. 

Starter Uniform

When first starting with Scout Adventures, you will be supplied with one of our Green Scout Adventures Polo Shirts. They are branded and the same as our staff and volunteers where on all of our sites and in the office. We really want you to be a part of our team and an important part of this is to be wearing the same! It is important to remember, when wearing our uniform you are representing Scout Adventures and so should ensure you act accordingly. Once your mandatory training is signed off, we will then 'Invest' you into the Scout Adventures Active Support unit and give you one of our Neckers. 

Further Uniform

We do have a full uniform package, and if the role/ project you're undertaking requires more, then we can look at this on a case by case basis. For example, if you're working outside, in poor weather, we can provide you with a waterproof coat. 

If you decide you want more uniform, this can be purchased from us (at a very reasonable cost!) or can be purchased with Credits banked up with the Volunteering hours you do. 

Full Uniform Package

Scout Adventures Polo Shirt

Halti Juonto Waterproof Jacket

Halti Neon Insulated Jacket

Halti Pallas Zip Off Softshell Trousers

Halti Gems Shoes

Why Halti? 

Halti are a brand that prides themselves on their sustainability credentials. 97% of their clothing contains recycled materials. Roughly 50% of the materials they use comes from recycled plastic bottles. All of their jackets are recyclable and can be sent back to Halti when finished with. They will then reuse the materials again into a new jacket. This also applies to the Down in their products which is all recycled down and has been taken from pillows/ duvets that would have gone to landfill. Halti are a Bluesign approved brand, this means they meet requirements from Bluesign for low levels of harmful chemicals used in the manufacturing process of their clothing. They also use no PFC’s in their kit. Halti transport their kit from their factories in China, to Finland by train, rather than by air or sea. This is significantly less damaging to the environment. They aim to be a Carbon Neutral Brand by the end of 2023. With this in mind, we wanted to work with a brand that cared about the impact they have on the environment. They design kit to last, which means we can ensure people have kit that lasts in our centres.

Volunteering Hours
 

When you come and volunteer for Scout Adventures, we keep a record of how many hours you have done for us. This allows us to share this amazing information with Scouts HQ and the wider Scout Community and really lets us shout about how amazing our volunteer teams are and how crucial they are to keeping our centres running and keeping our costs to Scouts as low as possible. 
 

Rewards
 

We know how valuable your time is, and we want to be able to give something back as a thank you for your time. So we have come up with a system for you to be able to use your volunteering hours to get something back. Volunteering hours will be converted into Credits, which will be worth £0.50 each per hour volunteered. To begin with, this will then be able to be 'Spent' on new uniform items and accommodation at our centres. As we get the system up and running we are looking to add in Training Courses and other benefits.  

Initially, we will set your review to 2 years from your start date, after this we can have a chat and ensure that you are happy in the role and you're happy to continue. It is also a great opportunity for us to make some plans for the next period of time and work out any personal development you might be interested in or any specific projects you might like. 

We will release a monthly newsletter during the last week of each month, this will be sent out to all members in the Scout Adventures Active Support unit. It will include some updates on projects across our centres, share success stories and any relevant information. We will also include any updates to the staff team and do some introductions to our staff and volunteer teams across all of our sites. Included will be any upcoming projects and a link to be able to sign up to them.  

As with many roles in the Scouts, you will have the option to work towards our Service Team Woodbadge. 

You will need to complete some training courses (all of which can be done online). If this is something you're interested in, then please get in touch here!