Staffing and safeguarding
Staffing and safeguarding
Vetting
Any camp depends on the quality and to some degree, quantity of the staff involved in bringing the programme and services to the participants. They are the human face of the event. A key function of the camp organisers will be to establish their own teams.
Adult volunteers must have a criminal records check and internal check to work with young people at an event. Without fulfilling the vetting process, an adult can only volunteer when supervised (being within hearing and sight distance) by a volunteer with a valid disclosure check. They will not be able to stay overnight until the vetting process is completed. For those volunteering on an irregular basis or very occasionally, they can only ever volunteer when supervised and cannot volunteer to stay at an overnight event.
International volunteers
Many international Scout volunteers come to the UK each year to participate as International Service Team volunteers at international camps in the UK or to lead groups of Scouts from overseas in camps and activities with UK groups. These roles often involve supporting the delivery of activities where there are youth members of UK Scouting. It’s important to establish the capacity in which an international volunteer is attending, whether this is as a leader of young people from their own National Scout Organisation (NSO) or leading activities for UK youth members.
International volunteers are not able to complete our usual vetting process due to the fact that they do not live in the UK. To ensure the safety of young people and a valuable experience for everyone involved, best practice when welcoming an international volunteer to your camp or event involves the following:
- Gain confirmation in writing from their National Scout Organisation (NSO) that the international volunteer is a full member of their NSO and has fulfilled the appointment, training and vetting requirements in line with the safety and safeguarding policies of the NSO. The NSO should confirm that there is no reason they should not attend the event. Their participation in your camp or event can only be confirmed once you have this.
Contact details for National Scout Organisations in other countries can be found in the World Scouting Directory, by contacting your County Leadership Team, or by contacting the Scout Support Centre. Contact details for Member Organisations in Girlguiding can be found in the WAGGGS directory.
In order to attend, a volunteer must be a member of a NSO which is part of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) or part of a Member Organisation which is part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) if the event is open to both Scouts and Guides.
Training for international volunteers
In addition to being up-to-date with training requirements in their home country NSO, international volunteers must also complete WOSM Safe from Harm training for Volunteers. This is available in the working languages of WOSM. International volunteers should be able to demonstrate their completion of this training by showing their certificate or by providing an endorsement from their NSO stating that they have completed a WOSM Safe from Harm check.
Prior to and/or on arrival in the UK, provide all international volunteers with:
- A copy of the Yellow Card Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults
- A copy of the Purple Card Safe Scouting and what to do in an emergency
- A copy of the Green Card Scouting and Alcohol Checklist for Adults
- An event-specific briefing or training on emergency procedures for the event and the Yellow Card Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults. This should include a frank discussion about the culture of volunteering with children in the UK. It should be made clear to international volunteers that while they are in the UK, UK Scout policies and legislation supersede any child protection or safeguarding processes their home nation follows and that where breaches of policy may constitute a criminal offence, UK Police will be informed.
For non-English speakers, interpreters should be used to ensure understanding.
For further advice and guidance on welcoming and supporting international Scout volunteers to join camps and events in the UK, please contact support@scouts.org.uk.
Explorer Scouts as staff
Explorer Scouts can make a great contribution to an event as staff, but it's essential to remember that they're still young people under the age of 18 and the Yellow Card Safeguarding Code of Conduct must be followed.
If Explorer Scouts are volunteering, then it's useful to establish a Staff sub-camp to give the necessary privacy to staff and ensure that the Yellow Card is followed and boundaries are not crossed. If Explorer Scout participants are in the camp, it’s important to remind Explorer Scouts staff of the expectations for their conduct as staff. Distinguish between Explorer Scout volunteers and adults by the wearing of a different scarf or wristband.
Staff structure
Without exception, all existing International Camps are split into sub-camps. This helps to make the organisation of the camp more easily manageable. The sub-camp may be used for:
- Maintenance of camping standards
- Sub-camp activities
- Spare time activities
- First aid/first response
- Catering
Most camps have a large programme team, which is further sub divided into teams for individual activities, such as water activities.
- It's probably best to allow activity leaders to recruit their own staff and to offer the appropriate training.
- Be careful that outside helpers comply with Scout Association policy and rules.
- There should be adequate ratios of staff to participants.
- Good recruitment will result in staff knowing what is expected of them, possibly through the provision of a job description, and utilising the skills available.
The staff will be drawn from a range of sources:
- Leaders from within the County/Area
- Leaders from other Counties/Areas
- Explorer Scouts
- Overseas Leaders
- Specialist adults not directly connected to Scouting
- Staff from commercial and other partners
There are a number of approaches of utilising the Leaders from the participating groups:
- The booking policy should indicate an ideal ‘Leader to youth ratio’ to ensure there is less boredom of those Leaders.
- Participating group Leaders can be enrolled as staff, in advance of the camp.
- Use of International patrols and good sub-camp scheme frees up Leaders for other duties.
- Establish a ‘Job Market’ to allocate tasks.
- Provide skills training sessions for visiting Leaders.
- Don’t ask visiting Leaders to do the jobs that no one else wants to do.
Many camps rely on specialists for aspects of their camps. It should be emphasised to all such staff that the camp is a Scout event, and activities and program should be conducted in keeping with Scout Association policies and rules.
- It's useful to have serving police officers on security staff.
- First aid facilities are often better provided by experts in the field such as Red Cross and St John’s Ambulance. Otherwise doctors and nurses who are Scout Leaders will be more sensitive to the need of the camp.
- Serving fire-fighters have the knowledge and the expertise to cope with the many potential dangers on a camp and may have access to equipment which may be lent to the camp.
- Commercial catering staff will be more aware of the need for hygiene, otherwise careful attention needs to be paid to appropriate training for new staff.
To get the most out of your staff here are some useful tips:
- Provide a crèche facility.
- Try to include at least one day off.
- On a rotation basis, offer some activities to staff and Leaders’ Staff club.
Most camps provide a separate facility for staff and Leaders so that they can have some time to themselves. Some points to consider here are:
- The area should be out of bounds to youth participants.
- The area should be removed from the main camp area to avoid undue noise.
- Care should be taken over underage drinking (one system is different coloured identity cards).