Parent Support

Online Scout Manager

Online Scout Manager (OSM) has been designed by leaders for leaders – it gives leaders the ability to do all their administration in one simple, secure, system.

It is not just a system for leaders though, OSM’s Parent Portal provides the parents the facility to ensure their own child’s basic address and contact records are kept up to date with all the relevant information about medical and dietary needs as well as allergy details.

It also gives parents the tools to see

• their child’s section programme with the opportunity to sign up to the parent rota to support
• parents can also record their child’s apologies for a weekly session and give a reason.
• view badge progress and see what has been done and still to do
• load evidence of any work their child may have done at home
• sign their child up to events and record any data the leaders request
• pay all payments for subscriptions and events

The above video give you an overview of the parent portal there are a number of additional tutorial videos to support you with these activities

Subscriptions

Subscriptions are £20 per half term, payment is requested via Online Scout Manager and GoCardless on the following dates

• 1st September
• 1st November
• 1st January
• 1st March
• 1st May
• 1st July

Subscriptions cover all the costs of the group including the annual membership paid to headquarters for every member.

• Create an OSM Subscription to automate everything!
  The first time you are invited to pay Subs or for an Event – look for the “Create Subscription” button. You will be asked to use or create an account with GoCardless  and and then add your bank details for Direct Debit.
  • Benefits: All payments will be requested from your nominated payment source automatically – no need to worry or remember. You’ll always receive an email before the payment is taken giving you notice, in the case of events advance notice. You’ll be able to cancel the payment as long as it hasn’t been initiated. You are still covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee.
  • Drawbacks: If you forget to check your email you won’t get the chance to reconsider the payment!
• Use OSM to easily pay each request at the click of a button
  If you haven’t created a subscription, then each time a payment for Subs or an Event is requested, you’ll get an email. Look for the “Pay Now” button to pay this one request. You will still be asked to use or create an account with GoCardless  and and then add details for Direct Debit. Lots of people see “direct debit” and think “regular scheduled payment”, but Direct Debit is just the method of payment; just like cheque, standing order or BACS transfer. Just as with a subscription, above, you are covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee.
  • Benefits: You have a bit more control and your consciousness is being raised of when your money is being spent. You are still covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee.
  • Drawbacks: You might forget to pay and be hassled by auto-reminders from the system. If you ignore all those then your section leader will have to get in touch to chase payment.
• Tutorial Video
  There is a tutorial video to take you through this process which can be found by clicking the link above.

Financial Hardship – Scouting should be accessible to all – so we will not allow financial hardship to come be a barrier to accessing scouting. If you are struggling with any of our requests for money – please speak to either Karen Blake, Group Scout Leader or Sinead Longster, Executive Committee Chair.

Gift Aid

1st Shiremoor operates a Gift Aid system as a form of fundraising, this means that we can claim back the tax that you have already paid on the subscription costs. This equated to 25p for every pound paid or £10 for each child’s termly subscription. All we need from you is a declaration that a parent or guardian pays tax, this can be done in OSM.

Investment

Once a young person has been attending for about 3/4 weeks, has decided they would like to become a member of 1st Shiremoor Scout Group and has worked towards the membership badge, the section leader will arrange a date for investing the young person into the Beaver Colony, Cub Pack or Scout Troop.

The young person will take part in an investment ceremony, when they say the promise of their choice and be presented with their group neckerchief, woggle and starter badges (world, district and group). Parents and guardians are most welcome to attend the ceremony. Details will be sent out at the time via OSM e-mail.

Behaviour

We expect young members to be ready, respectful, responsible role models and show a reasonable degree of behaviour and if necessary, we will contact the parents to discuss any problems. Only in exceptional circumstances will a young person be asked to leave the Group.

Attendance

Parents can inform leaders of their child’s absence from standard weekly sessions via the programme on the OSM parent portal. If a young person misses three sessions without any apology being given their place in the group may be at risk.

Annual General Meeting

The Group is required to hold an Annual General Meeting every year to:

• • receive the annual statement of the Group Executive Committee (including the annual statement of accounts)
  • to elect an Executive Committee for the coming year. Presentations will also be given by each section.

1st Shiremoor Scout Group usually hold their AGM in either July or September and all parents are invited to attend.

POR (Policy Organisation and Rules)

POR is a set of guidelines that governs the running of the group and any activities undertaken by its members, it gives guidance on the roles of Leaders and Executive members. The POR document is freely available for any parent or guardian and can be found on the Scouting website at https://scouts.org.uk/por/

General Data Protection Regulations

All information is held confidentially in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) electronically by Online Scout Manager which is accessible by the leadership team of the Scout Group and yourselves via the parent portal.

The 1st Shiremoor Group Executive Committee asks that this data is checked regularly to ensure it stays accurate, as parents can amend the data at any time you do not need to wait for this check.

All information is given voluntarily but is needed to help ensure the wellbeing of all the members whilst in our care. Some information is required by the UK Scout Association for the annual census which gives statistics on how many people are Scouting nationally.

The group will retain your personal information, throughout the time you/your child(ren) are a member of 1st Shiremoor Scout Group. We do need to continue to hold data in a much more limited form for longer (just name, badge and attendance records) to fulfil our legal obligations for insurance and legal claims. We will also keep any Gift Aid Claim information for the statutory 7 years as required by HMRC.