Good afternoon,
I hope you’re well.
Here is a summary of the information in the email below:
- Safeguarding update
- Shine a Light on Scouting Roles in Oxfordshire!
- Oxford Pride
- Care plans for inclusive Scouting
- Youth Voice Fora: we need your help!
- External First Aid certificates
- New Volunteer Flowchart
- Save the dates!
Safeguarding Update
Thank you to those people who are getting in touch personally or via their DLV regarding safeguarding concerns. I am happy to help support or signpost for any questions or queries that you may have relating to safeguarding. Please contact me on steph.fawdry@oxonscouting.org.uk if I can help in any way.
Reporting Incidents – As a county team we have recently been made aware that when leaders contact HQ with a serious safeguarding concern, we, at a local level, are not being made aware of the incident to be able to support you or your leaders through the process or provide support for you. If you are in a situation where you need to contact HQ, once this has been done, please can you email me on the dedicated safeguarding email address (safeguarding@oxonscouting.org.uk) so that I am alerted to the fact you have contacted HQ. I will then contact you to provide support and to ensure that you have timely responses from HQ.
Risk Assessments – A reminder that when you are completing your activity risk assessments to consider the safeguarding elements of your activity. I would be expecting that Safeguarding would be a hazard and the risks associated would be things like (not an exhaustive list):
- allegation of inappropriate behaviour from a young person or adult
- All adults not having DBS/safeguarding training or aware of yellow card
- Sleeping arrangements – especially when you have indoor accommodation
- Toileting arrangements – especially when indoors or having exploders/network members with younger age
- Any site specific issue relating to where young people are mixing with the general public
Your risk assessment should then specify what you will do to mitigate the safeguarding risks you have identified. Some of it, of course, will seem like you are stating the obvious however if there is a situation where your risk assessment needs to be reviewed in the light of an incident, there will be confidence that these risks have been considered. Ian Broome, our Safety Advisor, is running Risk Assessment Workshops for groups and districts across the county and he also covers how to include safeguarding in your risk assessment however if you need further advice, please do get in touch with me.
Safeguarding Reminders – Here are some reminders below linked to Safeguarding which you might find helpful.
Yellow Card: https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/staying-safe-and-safeguarding/safe-scouting-cards/
Safeguarding in the Programme: https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/staying-safe-and-safeguarding/safeguarding-in-the-programme/
Please do get in touch if can help in any way.
Steph Fawdry
County Safeguarding Adviser
Shine a Light on Scouting Roles in Oxfordshire!
We want to celebrate the incredible variety of roles that make Scouting in Oxfordshire possible — from behind-the-scenes to those leading sections on the ground.
Would you be happy to be interviewed about your role? We’d love to feature your story in our newsletter and on our social media channels to help inspire others and show the many ways people can get involved.
If you’re interested, please get in touch by emailing katy.hadfield@scout.org.uk. We’re looking to hear from people in all kinds of roles, and your experience could help spark someone else’s journey.
Oxford Pride
We will be having a presence once again at Oxford Pride on 7th June. This years event is being held at South Park. The Parade will be going in the reverse direction than in previous years starting at Paradise St then finishing at Radcliffe Sq where everyone will head to South Park. Do let Anne Addison know if you would like to help with the stall or join the parade by emailing inclusion@oxonsocuting.org.uk
Care plans and inclusive scouting
We have found some really useful guidance on personal care plans that some volunteers have found really useful. If you have young people in your sections and would like some advice on how to ensure their care needs are met, do reach out to Anne Addison our inclusion lead on inclusion@oxonsocuting.org.uk, there is also some great guidance here: https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/staying-safe-and-safeguarding/intimate-personal-care-policy-procedures/
Youth Voice Fora: we need your help!
On behalf of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire Youth is working with the National Youth Agency to create a comprehensive map of children’s and youth voice forums and opportunities for engagement with local and national democracy for children and young people across Oxfordshire.
This work will inform and support Oxfordshire’s future generations programme, which is based on the principles of Future Generations. Your feedback is invaluable in ensuring that future services can reach, engage, and be informed by a greater diversity of children and young people.
They need your support to map out the great work that is already happening across the voluntary sector. Please take 15 minutes to fill in this survey to help us all to better understand existing youth voice fora in each area of our county.
External First Aid Certificates
If you have completed an external first aid course which you would like to use for Scouts, please be aware that a First Aid Trainer needs to confirm that the syllabus of the course meets the Scouts First Response criteria. If there are elements which are not met, you will be requested to cover these either via an online conversion course or in some cases attendance of a 10b course, before the learning can be added to your profile. The whole first response course does not need to be retaken, but the missing elements will need to be covered.
Please send your external certificates to Firstaid@oxonscouting.org.uk where they will be reviewed. Your course certificate needs to be uploaded in My Learning, so please make sure this is provided.
The First Response criteria includes:
- Life support: The principles of first aid and initial response (arriving and managing an incident), emergency life support, CPR (including technique for children and an explanation of what AED is and how to use it), management of an unconscious casualty (child and adult) and choking.
- Trauma and injury: Shock, bleeding, fractures (ambulance imminent and non-imminent) and sprains, head injuries, dental incidents and burns.
- Major illnesses: Asthma, anaphylaxis, heart attack, stroke, seizures, diabetes, sepsis and meningitis.
To help our First Aid Trainers confirm the criteria it would really help if you can send in both your certificate and the syllabus of the course attended. If your course has extra elements added on the day to cover the Scouts syllabus, please ask the trainer to provide confirmation of the additional elements covered (e.g First Aid at Work does not normally cover Child CPR, dental incidents and some major illnesses).
New Volunteer Flowchart
Want to see the whole process of adding a new volunteer to the system?
Don’t worry we have you covered, in the link below you can download a flowchart to see what needs to be done at what step of the process!
The link to the most up to date version is at the top of this page…
Save the dates!
We have some great events coming up, save the dates now, more information will follow:
- Oxon Gathering – its back! Our all adult weekend packed full of networking, skills workshops and interactive sessions to help refresh and update your knowledge. 12th – 14th September at Jubilee House, Beckley
- Oxfordshire Scouts AGM – Tuesday 23rd September – Beckley Village Hall
Have a great month!
