03.10.24 Note from our Trustees

Last week, at our termly Trustees Meeting, the issue of our ever-increasing waiting list was discussed. We now have a total of 125 children on the waiting list. Sadly, the majority of these children will never get a 10th Royal Eltham place. Therefore, it was decided that we should temporarily close our waiting list with a view to reviewing at the end of each term.

It breaks our hearts that we are not able to accommodate more children in our Group but unfortunately due to child ratios for the number we leaders we have, it’s impossible for us to invite any new members at this stage. It will be reviewed at our next Trustees Meeting in the Spring.

The Waiting List Policy for 10th Royal Eltham Scout Group:

This policy explains how we match places, as they become available, with young people on the waiting list.

General Notes

10th Royal Eltham Scout Group regrettably has to operate waiting lists for all of its four sections.

We accept as many children as we can each year but we have to refuse far more than we accept due to lack of Leaders.

All of our Leaders work full-time and are volunteers. We run all the sections at maximum capacity.

When applying for a place on the waiting list, please fill out a Join Form on our website. Include your young person’s name, their date of birth, gender, full address and contact details of a parent/guardian. Make sure to include a current email address as this is how you will be contacted if and when a place becomes available.   

A child’s name can be added to the waiting list 12 months prior to the starting age of that section.

Therefore, a young person can join the waiting list for Squirrels at age 3, Beavers at age 5, Cubs at age 7 and Scouts at age 9 ½. 

If you have a number of children who would like to join 10th Royal Eltham, please fill out a separate Join Form for each child at the appropriate time (outlined above).    

When a young person becomes too old for one section’s waiting list, they will be transferred to the next section’s waiting list. The parent will be contacted by the admin person to confirm if the young person is still interested in remaining on the waiting list.  

Priorities when allocating places

Please note that allocation of all places is at the discretion of Section Leaders, the Group Scout Leader and the Trustee Board.

The following is a list of criteria that we use when allocating places to young people:

• The date of joining the Waiting List is the order places will be allocated in and not by age.           
• The young person is already a member of the group and is moving up from the section below (i.e. Squirrels to Beavers, Beavers to Cubs or Cubs to Scouts).

• The young person will have at least two terms within the Section being joined before moving up to the next section. 

As previously mentioned, we run each section at the maximum capacity. We also have long waiting lists for each of the sections. We will suggest alternative local Scout groups if there are no spaces available and a very small chance of the offer of a place.

We can only accept applications from the child’s parent or legal guardian.

We only accept applications via our website.

The Group is primarily for children living in the Shooters Hill area. If you are not close to our base(s) at Christ Church Shooters Hill or Shrewsbury House, Brinklow Crescent you may wish to consider other groups in the Greenwich District. Take a look at our neighbouring groups here

http://www.royalgreenwichscouts.org.uk/

Adult Helpers

We are always on the look-out for new adults and helpers for all our sections so there is never a waiting list. Whether you want to take up a uniformed role or help out on an occasional basis in a non-uniform role you will be most welcome. Please contact the Group Scout Leader on our Contact Us page. Don’t worry, we don’t throw you in at the deep end straight away and the Scout Association has a comprehensive training programme to develop you in the role you choose particularly if you want to work directly with our Beavers, Cubs or Scouts.

For questions or assistance, please email us at join@10throyalelthamscouts.org.uk

Click here for more details on our different sections

Policy agreed at Trustee Board Meeting 24/5/2023