A Nights Away event may be a new experience for your child, but not for us at Scouts.

Here are some policies and procedures we have to ensure these events are a success for everyone.

Safeguarding 

All of the leadership team have completed Safety and Safeguarding training and have a DBS at a minimum and we have several with First Aid Training. We take Safeguarding very seriously at Scouts and we follow the guidance given to us through the Yellow Card, their Safeguarding – Code of Conduct for Adults.

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Our young people will be sleeping in tents during our Nights Away events whether in the Hall at our Scout Centre or at the PACCAR Scouts Activity Centre. We tend to separate girls and boys, but not always as this isn’t a Scout policy, we’ll always consult you if we opt to do this. It easier however as they do need to have separate changing spaces. We will encourage our young people to understand the need for this. They will not be allowed to go into each other tents.

All our adults sleep separately from young people, at our Scout Centre, we sleep in adjoining rooms, and at the PACCAR campsite in tents very close by. Young people will not be allowed into adult’s rooms or tents; however we’ll make sure they know they can come and ask for help anytime overnight and will be encouraged to do this with a tent buddy.

Risk Assessments

We need to ensure every aspect of a Nights Away event just as any activity in Scouts has been risk assessed and this is done with a
combination of ones completed by our leadership team. This will ensure we are as safe as possible in all our adventures. These will be added to the event on OSM so are available for everyone to read.

Homesickness

We are very experienced with Nights Away events but realise this is often a worry for parents especially for those children staying away from home for the first time.
We will keep young people active and fully involved during the day as this is the best method of preventing homesickness. Having said this, homesickness tends to arise at the end in the evening and is often associated with tiredness. We are usually able reassure young people and return them successfully to bed.
However, if a young person is particularly distressed then we may make the decision to call home. We would speak to you first and explain the situation and see if we felt a conversation with your child may help to settle them down. If this fails, we would as a last resort ask you to come and collect your child.

Bed Wetting

Many of our young people are still not dry at night or may still have the odd accident. If they only have an accident occasionally, from our experience, camp will be one of those times! Therefore, we have put these procedures in place and we ask you to follow if this applies to your child.
Please allow them to bring and wear PJ pants / Pull-Ups if this is appropriate. We can ensure this is dealt with discretely when they get changed in the evening and in the morning. We have wipes and nappy sacks and will assist them with ensuring they wipe themselves in the morning and ensure everything is disposed of. Please reassure them we are used to this and not to feel worried about talking to us.
If they are likely to wet but don’t want to wear PJ pants / Pull-Ups please send a spare Sleeping bag (if you can’t let us know so we can!) and spare set/s of PJ’s. It’s important you talk to your child about the possibility of this happening, so they don’t worry about coming to tell us. We can then support them to change and get back into bed if it’s during the night or to get dressed discretely if it’s in the morning.
Either way this won’t hinder your child from enjoying a Nights Away experience!

Inclusion

All our young people are welcome to attend our Nights Away events. We know some of our young people may have additional needs which you may not have been mentioned before for our normal section meetings. Please do speak to us if there are things we need to know about your child, it certainly won’t mean they can’t come but it may mean your child has a better experience on their Nights Away event.

Behaviour

We will remind our young people of our expectations of behaviour throughout our event where necessary. This will include joining in, keeping themselves safe and listening to adults. If a young person’s behaviour is seemed as unacceptable and they haven’t improved after an opportunity to do so, as a last resort parents will be called to collect them.

Hygiene

Most young people will happily not wash for as long as you allow them! As such we remind and encourage them to brush their teeth and wash their faces in the evening and in the mornings. They will be washing their hands properly several times a day. We will support children where we feel they need it but encourage them to be independent initially.
They will get mucky, especially away on a Scout campsite and that’s part of the fun. Our aim is to allow that to happen without it having an effect on their health.

Medication

If your child usually takes medication then this should be brought to any Nights Away event

• Please ask for a Medicine Form beforehand, this needs to be completed for each medication and states the dosage and frequency.
• Medication needs to be in its original packaging and placed in a clear zipped bag or container clearly labelled with your child’s name.
• This is handed to the designated First Aider when you drop your child off.
• Medication is stored securely away from our young people.
• The First Aider will administer the medication during the event with another adult in attendance.
• The First Aider will complete both the Record sheet as well as our First Aid log.
• All medication will be returned to parents / carers at the end of the camp.

Medicine Chest

We hold a small range of medications on site which we will show you. We will ask you to sign advance permission to use these, however we will call or message you before we actually administer these items.

Food

Please do not allow your child to pack sweets, snacks or drinks in their bags, we have children with allergies within our group. It is also bad practice to have food inside sleeping areas on Scout camps and we want to teach our young people the right way of doing things. You don’t want them returning from Cub camp with a hole in their sleeping bag as a squirrel was determined to find that midnight feast!!

If your child has any allergies, food intolerances or finds mealtimes tricky due to sensory reasons, please do talk to us. We are used to dealing with most situations around food and you can feel confident that all of our young people will be fed and watered throughout a Night Away experience!

Kit List

We will issue a Kit List which will include all the items young people will need during their Nights Away event. We suggest for younger people they use a holdall rather than a rucksack for their items as they are easier to use during the event and encourages their independence skills.
Please pack the bag together so they see what is being packed in the bag and where it’s being packed. Consider packing sets of clothes together and label them, for example – Saturday clothes.

We will expect young people to have a good go at dressing and undressing themselves initially but can support them if needed but we will encourage their independence. We ask you to label everything, and we mean EVERYTHING! You’d be surprised how many children don’t
recognise their own clothing – note the comment above about packing together!
We have a Kit Bank where we have pre-loved items that can be loaned out for Nights Away adventures, just ask!

InTouch System

InTouch is a system used to manage communications at all Scout activities and events. It is flexible to allow those organising events to implement a system best suited to each event.
At our Nights Away events, we have a leader who is not attending and who will co-ordinate parent communications in the event of an emergency. This means leaders on site can care for our young people exclusively.

If you need to contact your child in an emergency, this is done using the InTouch system, therefore not by calling us directly. You won’t be able to contact young people personally whilst at camp. If we need to contact a parent with a query or questions we may well call directly.

Personal Details

It’s really important that your child’s details are both correct and up-to-date on OSM, our online admin system. This includes your contact details, especially your phone numbers, allergies and dietary requirements which are particularly important when we are planning a Nights Away event.

Finances

We are able to take payments for our events in instalments if this would be helpful just let us know. If you would like your child to attend one of our events, but the fee or getting kit from the kit list is a barrier to them attending, please speak to us in confidence. We have a lot of kit in our stores and we may able to help.