Getting Food Savvy - Competition for Beavers & Cubs

Calling all Cubs and Beavers in Suffolk. We need you to help us to save food and get Food Savvy!

Delicious Drawings is an exciting and creative art competition for primary school aged children in Suffolk to get their creative juice flowing, to help us think about the value of food and show how you can stop tasty food ending up in the bin. It could be the perfect half term project!

There are some great prizes to be won! All the competition details can be found by heading to our website www.foodsavvy.org.uk/kids-competition (or click on the picture above).

The competition will run for one month with the deadline for emailed entries being Friday 20th June.

Good luck!

The Food Savvy Team

#Adventure Continues - Challenge 5 - Youth Shaped Adventures

#AdventureContinues Challenge 5 is here!  This time it's all about you shaping and leading your Scouting adventure!

Have fun, and remember to let us know how you get on! - Click on the link - Challenges

Stowmarket DC search is on!

Many of you, especially those who are involved in scouting in the Stowmarket District, will already know that Nickie Phillips is moving away from the area and will be stepping down from the role of Stowmarket District Commissioner. We send her and Michael all best wishes for the future as they make their new home in Shropshire.

We're really pleased that she will not be leaving scouting and will continue in her roles as an HQ Specialist Adviser for Inclusion and Diversity and as a member of the Eastbourne First Aid Team SAS unit and Shropshire have already recognised Nickie’s talents and she will also be taking on a DC role there.

Moving forward.

The search for her successor is underway, and names of suitable candidates are being sought for consideration by the County Commissioner to succeed Nickie and to continue and build on the sterling work she has put into the district and the success which she has achieved during her time as DC.

How can you help?

There are some amazing people out there and it is important that everyone gets the opportunity to nominate those they feel could undertake this role and equally to be able to nominate themselves.

Read more ...

New County Training Manager

I am pleased to announce that Jenny Roe has been appointed as the County Training Manager (CTM) for Suffolk. Many of you will know Jenny as she was previously a Deputy CTM for Suffolk. Jenny will be building a team of supporting Deputy CTMs, Leigh Foster-Green remains part of that team and new team members will be announced once their appointments have been made.  Her overall responsibility will be for supporting the county with particular emphasis on the personal development of our adult volunteers through training provision, talent spotting, volunteer recognition and general education.  If you are interested in being part of the Training team, please get in contact with me or Jenny.

I would like to thank Alfie Foster-Green for the excellent work and the good shape he has put the County in with the provision and help for volunteers in their personal development and training.

Jenny takes on the role at a time where Suffolk Scouts are one of the top Counties/Areas in the UK for completing mandatory training (particularly Safety, Safeguarding and GDPR in this lockdown period). Since January, we are the 6th most improved County and we are top10 in terms of leaders and Executives with training up to date. Please complete your online training if you are one of the few left to do it!

Please join me in welcoming Jenny into her new role.

Mark Pearson

County Commissioner – Suffolk

COVID-19 News Bulletin #7 - 13th May 2020

Thank you for your continued support. Please remember that the key communications over the coming months will be the weekly email newsletter and our website https://www.suffolkscouts.org.uk/coronovirus.  All content we post is based on UK Government and The Scout Association guidelines. Our Facebook and Twitter pages will be updated with pictures and videos of what our young people are up to regarding Scouting – there is lots going on! 

A recent UK survey showed that Suffolk Scouts is the top in the Eastern Region for running online programmes during the Covid19 pandemic, standing at 92% of groups, well done for your hard work and resilience in these challenging times.

Is your “virtual” programme accessible and inclusive?

Like many Groups and Sections across the UK, you may be successfully running virtual programmes with your young people. However, have you thought about those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities or those who struggle with social communication? 

One Cub pack (31st/9th Ipswich (Tuesday) Cubs) has every single Cub in the pack participating in their accessible to all and inclusive programme.

Here are some of their ideas that you may wish to consider. 

• They have put out a range of 80 activities / challenges some of which are specifically aimed at gaining certain badges and some of which are purely for fun. The challenges are wide-ranging from the intricate to the quick and easy
• The Cub parents can upload evidence that can be handwritten, typed, photos or video logs onto an education platform called Seesaw. Leaders can be contacted through Seesaw if there are any queries via parents and leaders are responding to every submission.
• They also sent out the challenges in a complete word document at the beginning so that parents could print them if they prefer and have a complete list to cross off as the Cub does them. Any subsequent challenges added since the beginning have been added to the Seesaw platform and emailed to parents
• It was sent out with a covering email explaining it was designed to be completed at home but there was no expectation or requirement for Cubs to HAVE to complete any of the activities and what they do can be done at their own pace
• The Leaders are sending out a weekly update to all Cub parents detailing some of the highlights of what has been uploaded and making them aware of young people who have gained activity badges and any birthday or memorable occasions.  This is sent out during the normal Cub meeting time each week.
• Some of the submissions from the Cubs are really innovative and clever ones as well as ones that make you smile e.g. one of the challenges is making a sandwich with one hand that links to the Disability Awareness activity badge and one of the cubs is using their foot to hold the bread still while they butter it and another one uses their mouth to open the fridge to put the butter away!

Read more ...

#Adventure Continues - Challenge 4 - Outdoors

For #AdventureContinues Challenge 4, let’s go outside and make the most of your time outdoors. Have a go with as many as you like – there are 3 levels to choose from

Have fun, and remember to let us know how you get on! - Click on the link - Challenges

Vacancy - A.C.C. Network

You may not be Optimus Prime but you can still help transform young lives

Can you help support and inspire? If so, Suffolk Scouts have a vacancy for an Assistant County Commissioner - Scout Network 

We prepare over 6,000 young people across Suffolk with skills for life. But who helps us ensure we are “doing our best”? People like you. 

As Assistant County Commissioner - Scout Network (ACC Network), you are not directly involved with Leaders in a Scout Group or District, but the District Scout Network Commissioners (DSNC) and the young people (aged 18-25) they work with will be the end users of all your endeavours. 

The Assistant County Commissioner has overall responsibility for supporting the county with particular emphasis on direction, strategy and ensuring that an excellent programme and support is in place for  Network members. You will work with and support District Scout Network Commissioners to ensure that each Network has active programmes enabling top awards to be achieved.  This supports the Skills for Life work stream “Programme” - A fun, enjoyable, high quality programme consistently delivered and supported by simple (digital) tools.

Read more ...