Are your beavers/cubs/rainbows/brownies back yet?

[Flump9]

Are they back yet and do they have to social distance?

All sections in our Scout Group have been meeting outside in local parks since the week before the Easter break (and during the Autumn term until the Nov/Dec lockdown). We can meet inside but due to the size of the hut we can only have a maximum of 20 so we would have to split the sections and alternate weeks. We usually spend most of this term outdoors anyway and we managed in October when it got dark (lots of night walks!).

Cubs and scouts back since the end of March here, outside for every meeting up til this week. The cubs are going back to the scout hut tonight. Haven't heard about scouts on Friday yet.

I'm a Guide leader, but had planned to take the past year off anyway due to having a baby. Our Guides have had 3 zoom meetings. In total. Other leader organised, I joined to keep leader ratios right. Despite being "off" I have supported 3 of my Guides to complete their Gold award. The other leader had planned to do fortnightly meetings. There's been none since Easter.

I'm not sure what the future holds for our unit. Due to family circumstances, I may have to leave, although I don't want to. I can't see our hall letting us use it in the near future (church hall, vicar has it like Fort Knox). We're having a leadership crisis locally, with loads of volunteers leaving and units closing in our county. Many find the risk assessments and paperwork now required to be prohibitive. I'm sure there are many with difficult personal circumstances too.
I hope to try and offer them something over the summer (and present the Gold awards) while I work out what to do about September.

Our beavers are back since March, with the pack split so everyone attends every 2 weeks (and challenges set for the intervening weeks). They are outdoor when possible, and in theory they are distancing, but in practice they are not.

in theory they are distancing, but in practice they are not.

I think this is true for many units.
How do you all feel about this - as leaders, and as parents?

@Reachersloveinterest

in theory they are distancing, but in practice they are not.

I think this is true for many units.
How do you all feel about this - as leaders, and as parents?

As a leader (and parent - DD is in my Cub Pack) I'm fine with my Cubs failure to socially distance, but I feel uncomfortable about the evasions/lies in my paperwork.

I'd feel better if I could be honest and say: "I'm mitigating risk by meeting outdoors, and by keeping group-work within Sixes, but there is no social distancing between the Cubs. You decide whether to send your Cub. If you're uncomfortable for Covid reasons, we won't charge and we'll hold your place until restrictions ease."

I suspect that I may be a bad/not sufficiently inclusive leader, though. How would I feel if one of my Cubs was immune-suppressed and asked for a reasonable adjustment of real social distancing? I don't know.

I run a Brownie unit - we've done zoom during lockdowns and met face to face when we can. We've been back outside/inside since Easter.

Children are meant to socially distance even outside and we make them to a certain degree - no sharing of snacks etc. Risk assessment bloody annoying as GG HQ are so incompetent that they don't actually work properly half the time.

Ours have been back in between lockdowns. No social distance but masks for scouts and each group is split into bubbles and use separate venues / times.

My Brownies zoomed from March 2020 until Sept when we managed to do about 6 weeks outside, then we drew up a cycle of bubble A and B alternating indoors and a 3rd week together doing an appropriate outdoor activity, we got as far as alternating weeks once before November forced us back to zoom which continued until Easter and back outdoors again since. Much easier in full daylight and warm evenings, and we're an active, outdoorsy unit anyway.

My Beavers/ Cubs were a bit slower to get going. My two don't do zoom so disengaged until we went back outdoors at Easter. The group was slow to open discussion on getting back in the autumn and missed the window. With children not engaging, that was frustrating in the face of volunteering in the same place with a parallel section, but they've settled back well.

The Brownies manage distancing better. Partly that we established the habit and protocols in the autumn when people were still more mindful about it. Partly being that year older and a calmer cohort of girls compared to the 99% boys at Beavers/ Cubs (and a tendency to attract a lot of hyper or ND children n.b. this includes my children!).

As a parent, I'm happy enough that outside is a sufficient Covid-management strategy, and am happier that my DSs are there doing things fairly normally, and glad they're not in the hut with masked adults/ 11+s.
As a leader, I'm happier that the Brownie reality more closely matches our risk assessment. As a team our plans and boundaries tend to be clearer anyway.

My criticism of Guiding is that there is far too much PSHE on the programme and not enough naturally outdoors activity. I prefer the Scouting programme.

@Reachersloveinterest

in theory they are distancing, but in practice they are not.

I think this is true for many units.
How do you all feel about this - as leaders, and as parents?

I don’t mind. DD has three activities with girls from other schools and year groups. It is impossible to do proper social distancing so any attempt is good for me.

My criticism of Guiding is that there is far too much PSHE on the programme and not enough naturally outdoors activity. I prefer the Scouting programme.

Completely with you on this one. So much "talk about your feelings" and use of post it notes. We tend to ignore it 😂

I think this is true for many units.
How do you all feel about this - as leaders, and as parents?

As a parent I'm fine with it. Also I don't think leaders should feel bad about not being able to make Beaver age children socially distance. Nobody can, and everyone knows that.

Beavers and cubs are back, and outdoors. Have been back in one group since the start of the summer term (and in half groups some time begore)

Our beavers have been back about 4/6 weeks now, all outside though.

@Reachersloveinterest we ignore it too - we "do " the UMA/skill builders but only in a very general sense.

I don't some of the topics covered are suitable for a youth group.

I'm a Cub Leader in Ireland and, after the Christmas lockdown, we met on zoom from January to early May (when we were allowed to meet in pods of 15 outdoors again - like we had from Sept to Dec last year).

Since then, we've gone back to what we did last autumn - 2 Patrols and the 3 Leaders for a 1 hour session, 15 minute sanitation break (to let leavers leave before arrivers arrive, and to sanitise any equipment used), the other 2 Patrols and same 3 Leaders for 1 hour, then Leaders clean up and do next lot of planning. We rotate the patrols around over a 3 week cycle, so that each patrol meets their friends across the other 3 patrols relatively frequently.

Cubs don't wear masks, but Leaders do. And we aim for SD but Cubs have attention spans of gnats - although it's easier now we are back on the water for boating season as they are physically distanced by the boats.

This is different to our normal meetings, of 25 Cubs and 3 Leaders, for 90 minutes per session in the Den all winter (and occasional outdoor meetings), and increasing to 2 hours for boating season.

We also managed a short hike a few weeks ago, our first since November 2019. And we are planning for summer camp at the end of June (first night away since Nov 19 also - usually we have 2 hostel trips and a 2 night camp every year, but now I have 2/3 of the Cubs have never been away with us!!).

But we were lucky with weather last year, we were able to meet in a local park with woods until mid-December every week, so we still accomplished a lot of Scouting that way. And we ran a "Sustainable Scouting Online" programme that HQ had developed over the spring, and gave the Cubs a "Virtual Easter Camp Challenge" that they could attempt at home over the 2 week Easter Holidays with lots of fun challenges but no obligation to do any. Campfire over zoom was interesting (especially for my neighbours!! )

Camp will be difficult - but more in terms of pitching and striking double the amount of tents than usual, and finding 1 more extra Leader (I've already persuaded 2) so that I have a full cohort and we can keep in 2 pods if need be.

Mine moved up to Guides from Brownies in lockdown - and her Guide unit is doing in person meetings and has been for a couple of months. It's a very small unit though. They are mostly outdoors when they can and wear masks inside. She absolutely loves the meetings and I am so grateful they are back in person - she hates online activities.

And we have a very strict Covid register requirement in the Group - so ALL activity across 2 Cub, 2 Scout/Venturer and 1 Rover section, as well as Leader training activity, are all being captured and recorded as it happens. And as the C19 officer is a slight numbers geek, we get a monthly breakdown of activity so I know there were only 6 activities involving 26 participants covering 82 hours in April (the first activity in person since December last), but 62 activities involving 179 participants covering 1042 hours in May within the Group.

Beavers are back, but with some precautions. Actually some continued activities informally outdoors, park, etc.

Hopefully things back to more normal going forward.

Yes to Beavers, Cubs & Scouts. Have been for some weeks now. All do activities mainly outside or if inside then half a troop at a time (only happened once, with Beavers, they are a smaller troop anyway). Doing loads of fun things like chip shop hikes, kayaking, archery & more. Our leaders are all fab!

The new Guiding programme is very PC and neither myself nor the girls were enjoying it even before lockdown
I have serious concerns about their policy on self identification
Will finish this year but will not continue as Assistant Leader after that
Have heard of several other Leaders who feel the same

DS at Cubs he has been back since after Easter holidays but it’s only for an hour and if the weathers nice the meeting is outside. If it’s held inside they use 2 rooms to maintain distance.
DD at guides her group aren’t back yet as they are waiting for permission from the church where it’s held. They are due to discuss & make a decision on groups using the hall at their next meeting in mid June.

Yes. Scouts went back the very first day it was allowed in March. Outside only. DH also ran nights during Easter school holidays which they don't normally do because it was felt the kids needed it that much. Its socially distanced.

Beavers started a week later. They are now doing some nights inside.

My understanding is this exceptional. We have heard of loads of troops folding completely or still being zoom only.

Part of the problem is the troops need to get risk assessments done by district and district have been chronically slow about it. Dh's group have been extremely proactive and got stuff signed off during the last lockdown and we ready to go the second they were allowed.

They are hoping they may yet get a camp sorted over the summer - restrictions / scot HQ sign off permitting.

I’m a Cub leader. We went back 3 weeks ago. Largely outdoors. Adults distancing. I feel very vulnerable, as my Cubs go to 6 schools between them.