As with any Scouts activity, planning is key, so this step works you through the various things you need to consider as part of your planning.
Your volunteer team - If you haven’t done so already, it is vital that you make contact with your team. You need to ask if they are ok and happy to return to scouting. Keeping the team engaged is vital. If you need support or guidance on how to re-engage your team then check out our guidance
Meeting places and travel - Finding the right place to meet is vital. You may be restricted to outdoor venues, as you may not be able to use your normal meeting place. The where to meet and how to get there guidance supports you with finding a suitable meeting place, making sure it’s safe and also looks at how you get your members there safely.
Protecting everyone - Keeping everyone safe is key, so we’ve pulled together the key information on how to protect ourselves and others. In this guidance, you’ll find information on how you support those more vulnerable, including how you keep Scouts accessible to those who can’t attend your face to face meetings.
Programme basics - What programme you deliver will be influenced by the space you have available, who you have to lead it and any other restrictions which are in place, but don’t worry, as part of the process for getting approval you don’t need to submit your whole programme or the details of it, just know roughly what kind of activities you will offer and where so that you can choose the right locations in your risk assessment.
Incidents and first aid - Don’t forget that as well as planning to keep things safe you need to have plans for what to do if something doesn’t go to plan, so we have guidance to support you with your first aid provision, what to do if someone gets COVID and managing incidents.
Risk assessment - Now that you’ve reviewed the guidance for getting back together safely you should have identified how you will operate in this new Scouts environment, so work with your leadership team to document your risk assessment. We’ve created COVID-19 Risk assessment tools which include a COVID restart risk assessment video and some template risk assessments to help you with this. Moving to Yellow - COVID-19 restarting face-to-face Scout risk assessment template, Moving to Amber - COVID-19 risk assessment template. If you are thinking of getting your leadership team together check out the guidance for getting adults involved again.
Getting approval - Your risk assessment once complete needs to be supported by your GSL and Group Executive, they need to know that you plan to return, then it is submitted for approval to the District. This is done through an online process, this explained in the approval process for restarting.
By the end of the plan step you should have completed the following:
- I've read the guidance on finding a suitable place to meet and getting my group there safely.
- I understand the basic principles for planning a COVID safe programme, including how to protect everyone involved and supporting vulnerable members.
- I understand what to do if something goes wrong, including the provision of first aid, responding to an incident and someone contracting COVID within the section.
- I've developed a risk assessment for restarting by Section / Group and understand the process of getting this approved.