Joining and waiting list guidance
The resurgence of interest in Scouting in the last ten years has meant that many parents look to find places for their children at local Scout groups well before they have reached joining age. The age ranges for the various scout sections are; Beavers 6 to 8, Cubs 8 to 10½ and Scouts 10½ to 14. Once young people have joined as Beavers we make sure that spaces are available to them in Cubs and Scouts so that they can move up through the sections.
At 1st Richmond we maintain waiting lists for children wishing to join both our Beaver Colonies and our two Cub Packs. Generally there is no waiting list for the Scout Troops but increasing numbers at Scout age may mean that we will need to start a further waiting list for youngsters who have not been in Cubs but who wish to join one of our Troops.
In order to maintain our waiting list at a manageable level we will not place a child on our Beaver waiting list until or he or she has attained the age of four. Parents who apply when their children are at a younger age will normally be advised to contact us again when the child is four years old. Our waiting lists are in numerical order based on the date that the parent requested a place.
The Scout Association applies strict rules about the size of each Beaver Colony and this means that we are only able to accept a limited number of new entrants each year. Regrettably we sometimes have to advise parents that the Beaver waiting list is so long that the chances of joining Beavers is negligible and we will therefore place the child on the Cub waiting list in the hope that he or she will be able to join at the age of eight. If a child is unable to join our Beavers we do suggest that parents contact other local Scout Groups and we would be pleased to help with contact details.
There are two circumstances in which we will move a child to the head of our waiting list. Firstly if a child already has a sibling who is a member of the Group we will always attempt to find a place in Beavers or Cubs when they reach the right age-parents are still advised that they should request siblings be entered on the waiting list.
Secondly we will attempt to find places for those children whose parents volunteer to take on an active role within the Group as adult helpers or leaders. However in this instance the help offered does require a commitment to regular weekly help at section nights on an ongoing basis.