Welcome back to (Home) School!
The Easter holiday break is over – it’s time for the young people to head back to school. Well, home school… Normally this post would be Fast Forward, i.e. a look forward view of the week ahead given we’d have had some time off from Scouting whilst schools are closed. But as we all know, not at lot is normal at the moment in time. We hope you’re doing okay – as well as can be and are finding positives in the challenges we’re facing each and every day. We’ll be continuing our virtual Scouting and promoting other activities the young people can achieve at home as lockdown continues.
Hiking to the moon
We’re walking to the moon… Well, we’re asking the young people to try to walk part way!
The Scouts are asking everyone to come together to walk a mile, with the aim to walk 240,000 miles… the distance to the moon!
And of course, we are fundraising for The Big Night In- Which is a collaboration between Comic Relief and Children in Need! It would be amazing if your families could get involved and support this very worthy cause!
Roll of honour
St. George’s Day is just around the corner. Around this special day in the Scouting calendar, we recognise some of the adult volunteers’ achievements. The UK Scouting roll of honour has been revealed for 2020, and we are delighted to share that 5 of our leader team have been recognised.
Four of the team have received Chief Scout’s Commendations, and one of the team has received the Bar to the Silver Acorn. We are incredibly proud of these achievements and look forward to many more of the team being recognised in the near future.
We are very proud of you – thank you and well done.
Seeking a Grants team
Whilst the Scout Hut has been off limits to face-to-face Scouting, and in-line with Government allowances, we’ve been having some work done to improve the facilities. So far, we’ve had new CCTV, replaced the guttering, soffits and facias, the flooring has been deep cleaned and some other cosmetic work too.
As a charity, we don’t have unlimited funds. There are several things we would like to do the land and property to enhance the experience young people get. Whether it’s related to upkeep, improvements or additional capability. Nearly all come at a cost.
We are building a sub-committee to the Executive Committee. One who will be focused on finding and applying for grants. Lucie, one of our trustees, shared a post on this. If this is something you could be part of, please let her know using the form found here.
Young people records
Your action needed, please
We shared last week that we’ve been using some of our time to streamline and update some of our records and procedures for keeping records up to date. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to verify their young person’s personal information is recorded accurately on Online Scout Manager.
PRO TIP: If your young person is a Scout or Explorer, and they’ve got their own email address, you may populate the “Member” fields with their contact details too. This part is optional, but has the added bonus of meaning the weekly programme and information sent by leaders also goes to the young people and they become less reliant upon parents and guardians to cascade it.
If you haven’t done so, if you could take 5 minutes to check your details and complete the new standardised fields that would be fantastic. To do so, click on your young person’s specific link that was emailed by Shauna. Once you have finalised OSM updates, there is a box at the top (in yellow) to confirm that you have checked that you details we hold are current and correct.
Thank you!
Badges at home
We’ve seen several parents and guardians making use of the new component of Online Scout Manager, “Badges at home“. We launched this last weekend. If you missed the note, you can see the basics here including a helpful video.
The stay connected challenge launched to Beavers last weekend, and Cubs during the last week, can be found under your young person’s badge records, therefore simplifying the upload of evidence process.
As a reminder, the Coronavirus information and advice page on our website is updated regularly for the latest on Penistone Scouts’ arrangements: https://penistonescouts.uk/coronavirus
The week ahead (20th April onwards):
When participating in our virtual meetings, please change the name of the person joining to be that of your young person. This change can be made on a meeting by meeting basis, even if you’re using a work account to connect. By the young person’s name being visible, it really helps us to identify and engage properly with the young people. (Of particular benefit when the presenting leader may not normally be at your young person’s section meeting, so don’t know them by face). Other Zoom tips can be found on our Zoom FAQ here.
Beavers
All three colonies will be virtually meeting on Tuesday 21st April. Their Zoom meeting starts at 18:30 and will last up to one hour. As with last week, parents/guardians need to please remain with their young person.
One of the activities we had left over from before that we could not complete was Pet Night as it was not practical for beavers to bring their pets with them. However it is one that may be easier from home. The plan is for beavers to introduce their pets and talk through how they look after their pet (parents please be on hand and ready to help!). Don’t worry if you have no pet you can still join us and tell us how you would look after one if you had one..
Cubs
All three packs will be virtually meeting on Thursday 23rd April. Their Zoom meeting starts at 18:30 and will last between an hour and 90 mins. As with last week, parents/guardians need to please remain with their young person.
Our programme this week is based on communication. We’ll be using some games and fun ideas to explore the topic.
BONUS CHALLENGE
Another challenge we have set the Cubs is to complete the “Stay Connected Challenge“; this has been created by Pawprint Badges and if they complete it then we will arrange for them to have the badge for their blanket. They have until the 30th April to complete the requirements, for Cubs that is one challenge from each of the four areas – Craft, Food, Games and Other, plus one additional challenge which can be picked from any of those four areas.
It isn’t too late for cubs to join in – if you missed the invite then send an email to Shauna and she will add you on. The link to the challenges is https://pawprintfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2020/04/Stay-Connected-Challenge-Badge-Activity-Pack.pdf then either forward photos of them undertaking the challenges to Shirley or Lisa. Alternatively, upload via “Badges at Home” within the Parent Portal of Online Scout Manager.
Scouts
Our scout troops will be meeting virtually, albeit on their normal section nights and not all three troops together.
Enigma (Monday) Scouts – will be meeting at 19:00 on Monday 20th April
Wibbles (Wednesday) Scouts – will be meeting at 19:00 on Wednesday 22nd April
Viernes (Friday) Scouts – will be meeting at 19:00 on Friday 24th April
Building on the ‘Digital Citizen’ badge-work we started last week, we will be asking the Scouts to tell us about the five main parts of a computer. Additionally, and for the majority of the meeting, we will be looking at local map work. A map of the Penistone area will be sent as an attachment to an Online Scout Manager email. We’d like the Scouts to identify a number of key resources in their local town. These details and the remaining detail will either already be in your inboxes, or landing soon.
And finally, NEXT WEEK’S TROOP MEETINGS WILL BE IN FANCY DRESS / PAINTED FACES / GENERALLY LOOKING SILLY! Please make sure it’s not just the Leaders who do this and encourage your Scout to be as strange / flamboyant as they wish 🙂
BONUS CHALLENGE
Scouts may also complete the “Stay Connected Challenge“; that has been created by Pawprint Badges and if they complete it then we will arrange for them to have the badge for their blanket. They have until the 30th April to complete the requirements, for Scouts that is one challenge from each of the four areas – Craft, Food, Games and Other, plus two additional challenges which can be picked from any of those four areas.
It isn’t too late for scouts to join in – if you missed the invite then send an email to Shauna and she will add you on. The link to the challenges is https://pawprintfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2020/04/Stay-Connected-Challenge-Badge-Activity-Pack.pdf then either forward photos of them undertaking the challenges to your section leaders. Alternatively, upload via “Badges at Home” within the Parent Portal of Online Scout Manager.
Explorers
Our explorer scouts will be meeting virtually, on Tuesday 21st April between 20:00 and 21:00.
Invites will come from Online Scout Manager. The programme this week is focused around the Young Leader Module C.
Previously:
Beavers
Beavers spent this week taking it in turns to showcase their inventions. We had an excellent turnout with some quite ingenious inventions. The leaders favourites included a shoe lace tying machine, an instant Ice cream robot, a monkey nursery, a machine that sucked up all dust and germs and lots more.
Cubs
The Cubs had requested their evening start with a short treasure hunt. For this Shauna had pulled together some cryptic clues; therefore needing the young people to have a moment to think about what they were being asked to locate before finding it. The rest of the evening we enjoyed meeting and learning about the cubs pets. Amongst the expected array of cats, dogs and hamsters, there were also quite a few unusual ones: from a bearded dragon, stick insects, to ferrets and chickens.
Scouts
Scouts met on their normal section evening. They had been encouraged to pick three countries each, then do some research about those countries and how they’ve been impacted by / dealt with Coronavirus. They were invited to share their opinions on if they agreed with steps taken, or what else they might have considered. This and some of the other components of the evening form part of the Digital Citizen badge.
Explorers
Explorers met on Tuesday had a number of Kahoot quizzes.
And finally
3D Printing PPE (update)
We’ve been closely following one of our Scouts, Ben, and his family 3D printing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Face Masks for healthcare professionals given the lack of them presently. They hit the milestone of 1000 masks earlier this week! A truly remarkable achievement. Well done!
If your young person has something to share, please feel free to tweet us @PenistoneScouts or send details to us by email on [email protected]
Image credits:
Grants - CreditScoreGeek - (Creative Commons) Face masks - Michael Thorogood
