About Cholsey Beavers

Monday Beavers

Beaver Scout Leader:

Damian Bird (Black Beaver)

Thursday Beavers

Beaver Scout Leader:

James Shaw (Orange Beaver)

Weekly Pack Meeting (School Term Time Only)

Mondays and Thursdays at the Cholsey Scout Hut, 5:45pm to 7.00pm. The year for Beavers is structured as it is at school, and the terms align with those of Cholsey Primary School.

Please note the drop-off time should be from 5.40pm – not earlier.

At collection if the Colony are in the Scout Hut, please wait outside in the hall entrance. If the Colony are outside, please wait quietly, so the Leaders can finish off the meeting.

Attendance

There is a very long waiting list for Cholsey beavers. Unfortunately, this means we have to be strict about regular attendance once a place is accepted and we run a ‘three strikes and you are out’ policy. If a child does not attend (and the leader of the group has not been informed) 3 times in a full school term their place will be offered to another child. Illness, clashes with school events and family events are exempt from this.

Uniform

All Beavers should wear:

• Scarf, supplied at investiture
• Woggle, supplied on joining
• Sweatshirt

The Beaver sweatshirt is turquoise blue. The scarve and woggle is supplied when the Beaver is invested, but we do not supply the sweatshirt.

The sweatshirt can be purchased from:

• National Scout shop – http://shop.scouts.org.uk/uniforms/beavers/beaver-scouts-uniform-sweatshirt

New Beavers

All new beavers are required to present this form on their first night of beavers. New Beaver Registration Form

Please also ensure your data is kept up to date on my.Scout. Details about this will be sent out by your leader or the treasurer.

How Beaver Scouts are organised

Beaver Scouts are part of 1st Cholsey Scout Group, which is made up of the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts sections.

Beaver Scouts meet together as a ‘Colony’ (the Monday or Thursday Colony) and work within small groups called ‘Lodges’ identified by the colour of their woggles. Each Colony has a number of adult Leaders, led by ‘Black’ Leader on Monday meetings and ‘Orange’ Leader on Thursday meetings.

A team of adults run the Beaver Scout Colony. It is a voluntary organisation that is run by people who freely give up their time. We are always needing help and support. If you feel you could spare a little of your time, please speak to the Beaver Leader for your Colony (or Neil Moroney) for more information.

Parents’ rota

There is a parents’ rota to help out at the meetings, as well as having an opportunity to see what we are doing with your children. The rota is sent out at the beginning of each term by email. and is also available under the program section.

Subs

There is a termly fee of £33 from September 2014. Subs cover insurance costs (of your child, meaning), running costs of the Scout hut and running costs of the group. Payment can be made in a number of ways.

• Joining the payment process on Online Scout Manager (an online system Scout groups in the UK use for administration and running of their groups). This is a direct debit method – you are informed of payments before they are taken, but once set up you can forget about it.

• Cash and cheque payments can be made on Subs night, the second night of each term.

Non-payment of subs will mean you will be asked not to bring your child to meetings until subs are brought up to date. You will receive an email from the groups Treasurer before the start of term outlining these options. If you have any concerns regarding payments for subscriptions or camps, please feel to contact our Treasurer: treasurer@cholseyscouts.com

Behaviour code

All members of 1st Cholsey Beaver colony are expected to behave well and appropriately at the meetings. Types of minor behaviour that will not be accepted include:

• persistent breaking of rules
• failing to follow instructions for activities
• persistent interruptions and not paying attention
• talking whilst someone else is talking
• excessive noise/shouting/jostling and so on.

For ‘minor’ behaviour the following stepped discipline procedure will be followed:

• verbal warning
• 5 minutes out of activities to calm down
• second warning resulting in a week’s ban

More serious examples include:

• bullying
• fighting
• swearing
• kicking
• punching
• biting
• spitting
• screaming, etc.

The more serious examples, in particular bullying and fighting, will result in the Beaver’s parents being contacted and, depending upon the circumstances, suspension for either the following week, a number of weeks or permanent.

Older members are expected to set a good example to younger ones.

Scouting can have a competitive aspect. In Cholsey Beavers we encourage a healthy approach to competition between the Beavers individually or within their lodges, but we aim to ensure that there are no ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, ‘firsts’ or ‘lasts’ – there are ‘1sts’, ‘2nds’ etc, and all groups are encouraged that taking part is the most important thing.

The discipline procedure will be used should any Beavers describe other Beavers, or lodges, as ‘losers’ or any variation of this.

Badges

The Scout Association have introduced new badges for the Beaver section in 2015. Cholsey beavers will introduce these badges in term 5. For a full list of badges already achieved and working towards please visit the badge section.