Please ensure you have read this change to the process we shared last week.
This webpage: https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/getting-back-together-safely/nights-away-and-international-travel/planning-covid-safe-nights-away-in-2021/ has recently been updated with the following guidance:
Nights Away Approval Process
We are changing the COVID-safe approval process for nights away. Camps or Residentials taking place whilst areas are in Yellow must have covid hazards and controls included within the event risk assessment which is submitted along with the Nights Away Notification Form. This will be checked by someone within the District and like any overnight event requires DC approval but does not need to go through the restart risk assessment smartsheet process. Those organising camps or residentials MUST show how they comply with current government guidance on numbers, social distancing and safe use of accommodation and sleeping areas.
This is a change to the process that we outlined at the GSLs meeting and shared in last week’s newsletter.
We will be putting an update post in this week’s newsletter.
It is vital that Leaders planning to run camps have read all the information on this webpage too, so please check that your Section Leaders have when they notify you of their plans for a Nights Away experience.
I’d recommend looking at it often in the run up to any planned camps, as the guidance is constantly changing (as we’ve found this week) and there is no date to say when it was last updated, so it is hard to spot the changes.
An example of a Nights Away Risk Assessment can be downloaded from the above webpage to get Leaders started too.
We have a new NAN Form that was created just before the very first lockdown, but the website link: www.blacktoftbeacon-scouts.org.uk/nan and the QR code cards we gave out in 2020, still take you straight to the new form.
It looks almost identical to the previous one, but is through Office 365, rather than Google Forms.
How to upload your Nights Away Risk Assessments is explained on the form and has been tested by the first Sections in the District who are planning camps for next month.
Please ensure you receive an email, approving your NAN Form and RA, from a member of the District Team, before going on camp – just like we used to do all those months ago! The form will send you a copy of what you have submitted, but this is automatic, not an approval email.
If you’ve got any queries or questions, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to answer them, or find the answer out for you if we don’t know.
Please remember there is no pressure to do Nights Away yet, it is up to a Section’s Leadership Team to decide when they are ready to do so.
