New Leader Training

New Leader Training Lockerbrook Farm 27 – 29th November 2015

Facilitated by: Katy Redgrave Emily Connor Contents

Weekend Agenda 3 Outcomes for Participants 3 List of Participants 4 Woodcraft Folk Quiz (included, but we didn’t do it?) 5 Welcome & Introductions 6 My Woodcraft Journey 7 Putting the Aims & Principles into Practice: Programme Planning 7 Co-operative Craft 10 Safeguarding Children & Young People 12 Discussion Techniques 15 Games Share 17 Virtual Campfire 17 Promoting Positive Behaviour 18 Keeping Safe: Risk Assessment 19 Outcomes for Children & Young People 21 Training & Sources of Support 24 What Next? 25

Appendices Appendix 1: Who Are These Folk? 31 Appendix 2: My Woodcraft Journey 33 Appendix 3: Example Session Plans 36 Appendix 4: Session Plan Template 38 Appendix 5: Safeguarding Scenarios 40 Appendix 6: Games We Played 49

- 2 - Weekend Agenda

Friday Evening Welcome Group Agreement History of Woodcraft Folk film

Saturday Morning Welcome & Introductions My Woodcraft Journey Putting the Aims & Principles into Practice: Programme Planning Co-operative Craft

Saturday Afternoon Safeguarding Children & Young People Discussion Techniques Games Share Virtual Campfire

Saturday Evening Promoting Positive Behaviour Reflection

Sunday Morning Keeping Safe: Risk Assessments Outcomes for Children & Young People Training & Sources of Support What Next? Outcomes for Participants

● Increase knowledge of Woodcraft Folk by exploring Woodcraft Folk’s history, aims and principles and resources ● Meet, work with, and learn from other Woodcraft Folk leaders ● Practice developing a group programme based on Woodcraft Folk aims and principles ● Become competent and confident in their responsibility to safeguard children and young people in our care ● Become competent and confident in writing risk assessments for group activities ● Share and learn songs and games that are suitable to use in Woodcraft Folk groups ● Value the impact of Woodcraft Folk on children and young people Identify further training and support needs and know where go to achieve them - 3 - ● List of Participants

Name District Region David Harvie Meanwood Valley, Leeds Northern

Laura Pocket Bristol South West

Finn Thorbrian Heaton, Bradford Northern

Andrew Brown Yeadon, Leeds Northern

Raza Khan Heaton, Bradford Northern

Rachel McMahon Heaton, Bradford Northern

Aisha Azhar Bradford Moor, Bradford Northern

Indi Elcock Bradford Moor, Bradford Northern

Tim Elcock (Creche) Eccleshill, Bradford Northern

Jo Carrick Leeds Northern

Tom Carrick Leeds Northern

Jess Midgley Bradford Moor, Bradford Northern

Verity Walker (Creche) Manchester Northern

Vicki Gillibrand (Creche) Manchester Northern

Moira Scarff Slaithwaite Northern

Pippa Warcup (Creche) Leeds Northern

- 4 - Woodcraft Folk Quiz

Session Aim ● Increase participants’ knowledge of Woodcraft Folk

The group played a multiple-choice quiz about Woodcraft Folk past & present, moving to different corners of the room to indicate their chosen answer to the following questions:

1. If you were 10 years old, which group would you go to? a. Elfins b. Pioneers c. Woodchips d. DFs 2. When did Woodcraft Folk begin? a. 1915 b. 1920 c. 1925 d. 1930 3. What is Woodcraft Folk’s annual conference called? a. Annual Delegate b. Annual General c. Annual Gathering d. Annual Get Conference Meeting Together 4. Why do we form circles at Woodcraft Folk? a. We do not like b. Everyone can be c. Circles are easier d. We tried triangles squares seen, heard and to get right and it looked daft take part in circles 5. Which of these organisations does the Woodcraft Folk have strong links with? a. Co-operative b. Department of c. The Rochdale d. Labour Party Movement Education Pioneers 6. What was Lesley Paul’s Folk name? a. Phoenix b. Peace Dove c. Golden Monkey d. Little Otter 7. What is the Woodcraft Folk’s motto? a. Span the World b. Youth is not c. Education for d. Camping is for with Friendship wasted on young social change everyone 8. What is the colour of our Folk shirts? a. Blue b. Green c. Red d. Yellow 9. What is the name of the Woodcraft Folk in Wales a. Gwerin y Coed b. Dim Parcio c. Betws y Coed d. Pobol y Cwm 10. Which of these items is something that groups use for games? a. Parachute b. Games, Games, c. Games DVD d. Sponge ball Games book

- 5 - Useful Resources ● Who Are These Folk handout (Appendix 1) ● History of Woodcraft Folk on our website ● Introducing Woodcraft Folk training module for new volunteers/parents ● Leslie Paul discusses the early years of Woodcraft Folk (film) ● Woodcraft Folk archive website

- 6 - Welcome & Introductions

Session Aims ● Share getting to know you games ● Participants know what to expect of the weekend ● Participants share their expectations for the weekend

Participants introduced themselves, and we played ‘Toothbrush name game’ as a warm-up. Katy & Emily shared an overview of the agenda for the weekend.

Group Agreement To help the weekend go smoothly, the group agreed the following groundrules: ● Listening to others - taking turns ● Be punctual ● It’s OK to ask questions ● Make eye contact and connect with others (if feel comfortable) ● Respecting each other's opinions ● Tidy up & wash up ● Don’t blame people (except Tom if he doesn’t do his late night kitchen monitoring) ● Challenge the statement, not the person ● Discretion around intoxicating substances ● It’s a creche, not a camp - kids are parents responsibilities when not in programme

Participant Expectations Participants shared some of their expectations of the weekend, including:

Something I am looking forward to ● Meeting other people from more established groups ● Going to bed and waking up to the view ● Good chats about nuts and bolts of how to run WCF groups ● Having fun with kids ● Learning more about Woodcraft Folk ● Seeing new volunteers gain confidence ● Meeting new people ● Getting new ideas

Something I hope to learn ● Child group dynamics ● How Woodcraft Folk works ● New behaviour management strategies

- 7 - ● New games ● New techniques to coordinate the group ● History of Woodcraft Folk ● New craft ideas ● What support people need and how new groups are going ● How to organise and run a session ● Safeguarding and risk assessments

Something I am worried about ● Early mornings, waking other kids ● Kids having tantrums because haven’t slept enough ● Sleeping badly ● Organising and running a session

At the end of the course it was agreed that all items in the first two categories had been fully or partially achieved.

My Woodcraft Journey

Session Aim ● Participants get to know each other better, forming the group and building relationships of support that will hopefully go beyond the weekend

Participants split into groups with others from a similar area and wrote or drew their Woodcraft Journey, including: ● Names ● Where they are from ● How they found out about Woodcraft Folk ● What interests them most about Woodcraft Folk ● Things they have done with Woodcraft Folk

Once finished, participants were able to read what other groups had written, and the journeys were put up on the wall (see Appendix 2).

Putting the Aims & Principles into Practice: Programme Planning

Session Aims ● Participants can explain the Woodcraft Folk Aims & Principles, what they think of them, and how they believe they fit with their group sessions ● Participants are confident and competent at developing group programme activities that support the Woodcraft Folk Aims & Principles

- 8 - What do we do during programme? Participants shared their thoughts on the sort of activities that make up the programme for our groups, including: ● Co-operative games ● Board games ● Merrymoot (skits/performance) ● Voting/discussion ● Cooking ● Multifaith activities ● Outdoor activities ● Allotment ● Crafts ● Social action ● Community projects ● Current affairs ● Watersports ● Hiking ● Singing

It was noted that following a similar structure in the group each week could help reinforce the identity of the group and support children and young people to participate in the group.

- 9 - This could include: ● An introductory game that the children are already familiar with ● Circle time, with news and an explanation of the main activity ● Themed activity ● Games ● Circle to reflect and share information about next week ● Singing ‘Link your Hands’

Woodcraft Folk’s Aims & Principles Owen introduced participants to the Aims & Principles of the Folk, which were stuck up around the room:

1. Preamble The Woodcraft Folk: is an educational, empowerment and advocacy movement for children and young people, which seeks to further the International Co-operative Alliance’s Statement on the Co-operative Identity. It seeks to be recognised as the Co-operative and Trade Union movements’ educational and empowerment organisation open to all with the aim of building an environmentally sustainable world built on children’s and human rights, equality, friendship, peace, economic & social justice and co-operation.

2. Education for Social Change We seek to develop in our members a critical awareness of the world. We will work to develop the knowledge, attitudes, values and skills necessary for them to act to secure their equal participation in the democratic process that will enable them to bring about the changes that they feel are necessary to create a more equal and caring world. As an educational movement, we believe that equal opportunities should extend to all aspects of activity and participation in the Woodcraft Folk. We will combat oppression or discrimination in our movement, whether on grounds of age, class, gender, race, sexual orientation or for reasons of disability. We will educate our members so that they may take these issues into the wider community.

3. A Co-operative and Sharing Attitude to Life We believe that to further our aims it is vital to approach our educational work through the principles of co-operation. To achieve this we will provide a programme which ensures that our members practice co-operation through all the activities in which they participate.

4. International Understanding Our motto is ‘Span the world with friendship’. We will therefore encourage and develop international understanding and friendship through our educational work and by our exchanges between children and young people of different lands. We will promote a greater understanding of the world amongst our members so that they are aware of the inequalities which exist in it.

- 10 - 5. The Rights of the Child In our work with children and young people, we respect and defend their individual rights, and encourage them to participate responsibly and democratically, in all aspects of Woodcraft Folk activity.

6. Religion The Woodcraft Folk welcomes all children, young people and adults, who wish to become members of the movement, and it asserts the right of all its members to practice the faith of their choice providing it does not contravene the aims and principles of the movement.

7. One World The Woodcraft Folk will encourage an understanding of the need to protect our environment and the use of the world’s resources. With this aim we will seek to encourage our members to protect our urban and rural environment in the interests of all.

8. A World at Peace Because of our international outlook and concern that all shall enjoy the right to freedom from the immorality of war and want, the Woodcraft Folk is dedicated to the cause of peace. Accordingly we associate with the movement for world disarmament and for the transfer of those resources directed to the destruction of life into channels which will be used for the fulfilment of humanity’s needs.

9. Affirmation The task of the Woodcraft Folk is the cultivation of a world outlook. Because the Woodcraft Folk is concerned with educational activities, it is accordingly precluded from being involved in activities and policy making of political parties. The Woodcraft Folk expects its members to abide by its Constitution and to participate actively in a movement that is dedicated to all people for all time

To explore their response to the Aims & Principles, participants were asked to move in turn to stand by the one which: ● means the most to them ● is the least important to them ● that they find easy to promote in sessions ● that they find hardest to promote in sessions

People shared their reasons for their choices with the group. It was agreed that many of them were closely interlinked.

In small groups, participants then created a plan for a group night that explored one of the Aims & Principles in an accessible way for the target age group (groups’ completed session plans are included in Appendix 3). These included activities linked to the session theme such as:

- 11 - ● Games ● Songs ● Group activities ● Thinking/discussion activities ● Creative activities

An important part of delivering more ‘Woodcrafty’ sessions is using the Aims & Principles as a starting point – often the difference is more about how we deliver the activity than what the activity is. Sharing the objectives for the session with other volunteers is important to ensure everyone gets the most from the session.

A simple written session plan is a good way to make sure that other volunteers understand the aims of the activity (see Appendix 4).

Useful Resources Woodcraft’s Aims & Principles: ● Aims & Principles ● Aims & Principles photo story ● New Group Journey module on programme planning ● Hinckley Film about the Aims & Principles

Programme Planning The Woodcraft Folk Group Activities page on Issuu includes: ● Elfin Activity Pack ● Pioneer Activity Pack ● Venturer Activity Pack ● Venturer Issues Pack ● Leading for the Future ● Follow the Trail ● Rainbow Resources ● Elfin, Pioneer & Venturer Bushcraft Packs

Co-operative Craft

Session Aims ● Model group leaders ● Practice working with children ● Test our co-operative skills Participants took part in some co-operative craft activities in smaller groups with young members:

- 12 - ● Spaghetti & marshmallow towers ● Den building ● Completing a Woodcraft logo with bottle tops

At the beginning of the session teams were asked to suggest why we were doing this. Suggestions included: ● Advertising/promotion ● Curiosity about Woodcraft ● Group identity ● Learning a skill ● Co-operation ● Team building ● Common Goal ● Inclusive –everyone can contribute

F0llowing the activities, the groups reflected on what went well and how adults and children worked together: ● Overcoming obstacles

- 13 - ● Repurposing materials ● Improvising ● Communication ● Welcoming new ideas ● Organisation and structure ● Planning ● Splitting into smaller groups/pairs ● Doing it in stages ● We used our time well ● Adults told us there were no wrong answers ● Adults told us never give up!

- 14 - Useful Resources ● Craft Craft Craft is a useful collection of craft activities to share with your group

Safeguarding Children & Young People

Session Aims ● Clarify what is meant by ‘safeguarding’ and ‘child protection’ ● Ensure all Woodcraft Folk members are aware of the principles of the Woodcraft Folk Safeguarding Policy ● Support all Woodcraft Folk members to explore how practice supports safeguarding of children and young people at group nights, on camp and other Woodcraft Folk events ● Inform all Woodcraft Folk members how they should raise concerns or safeguarding worries ● Signpost all Woodcraft Folk members to sources of further information, training and support Participants can explain the Woodcraft Folk Aims & Principles, what they think of them, and how they believe they fit with their group sessions

Definitions Participants were asked to share what they think of when they hear the word ‘safeguarding’. Responses included: ● Keeping safe ● Covering own safety/reputation ● Avoiding 1 to 1 ● Risk assessment ● Manging risks ● Communication ● Being open & honest ● Creating trust with parents ● Prevention ● Not making the situation worse ● Every Child Matters ● People trusted to be in charge ● Not creating unnecessary risk ● Ensuring child is collected & who by? ● Protecting ● Reference checks/DBS ● Ensuring safe space for children, emotionally, physically, environmentally ● Anticipation ● Everyone’s responsibility - 15 - ● Recognise dangers & changes to make it safe

Owen shared agreed definitions of key terms for the voluntary youth sector (as agreed by the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services):

Safeguarding is the broader preventative and precautionary approach to planning and procedures that need to be in place to protect children and young people from any potential harm or damage. It is more than child protection, although child protection is one important aspect of safeguarding.

- 16 - Safeguarding involves keeping children and young people safe from a much wider range of potential harm and looks at preventative action, not just reaction.

Child protection involves recognising signs of physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect and acting on it.

Key elements of Safeguarding Everyone received jigsaw pieces which the group pieced together to reveal key parts of Woodcraft’s approach to Safeguarding, which were then discussed by the group:

Designated Safeguarding Officer should be identified for each district (and ideally each group) – this person should be your first port of call if you have a concern about a child or a volunteer in your group.

Member screening e.g. CRB checks, references are important to ensure that volunteers helping in our groups have not been found to be unsuitable to work with children and young people – but these just a part of keeping children safe in our groups.

Collection of health and consent forms from all children, young people and helpers ensures that you have the correct information about any medical needs, contact details for carers/next of kin and consent for young people to participate in your group’s activities. A standard form is available on the website. These should be kept up to date, and renewed each year.

Appropriate Volunteer: Children ratios should be met at every session – 1:3 for Woodchips, 1:5 for Elfins, 1:8 for Pioneers and 1:10 for Venturers.

Programme planning is important for safe sessions – ‘winging it’ is inherently more risky than delivering a session that has been planned in advance.

Safeguarding training should be undertaken by as many volunteers as possible, either from Woodcraft Folk or locally through the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB). A session plan to run your own training session locally is available on the website.

Competent & experienced members are important for running safe activities for children and young people – volunteers leading an activity they have no experience of could put their group at risk.

Risk assessments are vital to identify potential dangers, ensure everyone knows about them and what you are doing to control/reduce the risk.

Avoid 121 contact between adult volunteers and children/young people – and support other volunteers to do so. Specific guidance also exists about the safe use of online communications between volunteers and young people. If a 121 situation is unavoidable, it should happen only with the full knowledge and support of other leaders.

- 17 - Keep parents informed about the group’s programme so they can raise any concerns prior to the activity.

Actively engage children and young people in order that their voices are heard and that relationships within the group are built on honesty and openness.

Safeguarding Policy & Procedure documents set out how Woodcraft safeguards children. All volunteers should read and sign the Safeguarding policy. It is a requirement for each district to have its own Local Safeguarding Plan (a template is available on the website).

Whistle-blowing Policy enables anyone to raise a concern directly with the central organisation if they are concerned about a safeguarding issue.

The procedure for raising any Safeguarding concerns within the organisation is outlined below:

Group Leader → Local Safeguarding Officer → Lead Safeguarding Officer

Woodcraft Folk’s Lead Safeguarding Officer is Debs McCahon, who can be contacted on 0854 217 8939 or by emailing [email protected].

Any stage in this chain can be skipped if the situation requires (e.g. the concern relates to the group leader).

In an emergency, or any leader felt that a child or young person was in immediate risk they should contact the Police and ask to speak to the Child Protection Team.

In small groups, participants considered a range of scenarios, which were all drawn from real life examples within Woodcraft Folk. For each scenario group members were asked to consider: ● Is this a safeguarding issue? ● What is your current practice? ● Is this acceptable behaviour? ● Would this issue need further discussion amongst your District?

The scenarios, legal and good practice background and the real life outcome are given in Appendix 5.

If volunteers have any concerns about a child, they should follow the escalation process above, and never assume that the organisation is already aware of the issue.

Woodcraft Folk has a standard form to capture all the relevant information if a child discloses information about abuse – this should be completed as soon as possible after the disclosure is made. It is good practice to ensure that blank forms are kept to hand (e.g. with the group’s health forms).

- 18 - We should include age-appropriate activities for children & young people on our group programmes to help them stay safe, which might include cyber safety and social media as well as discussing consent and personal space.

Useful Resources The Woodcraft Folk’s Safeguarding Portal contains links to all the key policies, procedures and templates to help you with your Safeguarding responsibilities, including:

● Woodcraft’s Safeguarding Policy (updated 2015) ● Safeguarding Checklist for groups & districts ● Email & Social Media Guidance ● Disclosure Form to record details of an incident or information shared by a child or young person ● Flow chart summarising Woodcraft’s Safeguarding procedure

Resources for group activities ● NSPCC’s PANTS campaign ● Consent & Tea (animation) ● No Means No (exploring personal space) ● ThinkUKnow (cyber safety) ● Preparing for Camp ● How Close is Too Close?

Discussion Techniques

Session Aims ● Use a variety of techniques for facilitating a discussion with children ● Recognise when children and young people make valuable contributions to the Woodcraft Folk experience

The group contributed their ideas about why we might organise discussion and debating activities with groups of young people:

- 19 - ● Empowerment ● Understand people’s feelings ● Get their opinions ● Show we value their opinion ● Decide what activities to do ● Make sure we’re fair ● Learn names ● Broaden our opinions ● Make new friends ● Make people think ● Include everyone ● Solve problems

Participants divided into smaller groups, and young people were divided by age group. Each group held a discussion on a topic according to a different set of rules:

Taking Stick (Elfins) A stick or other object is introduced to the group. Only the person holding the stick may speak – everyone else should listen. Anyone who wants to say something must put their hand up and wait until the stick is passed to them.

Alternatively, pass the stick round the whole circle to get everyone's views, or instead of people putting up their hands to request to speak, the holder of the stick hands it to someone they wish to hear from.

Tokens (Pioneers) In your small group give everyone the same number of tokens (buttons etc.). To make a contribution to the discussion an individual must place their token in the middle of the circle.

- 20 - Once all your tokens are used up, you cannot contribute until everyone has used up their tokens. If this happens, distribute the tokens equally again and continue the conversation.

Silent Debate (Venturers) In your small group write the question on flipchart or other large paper. Give each person a pen. Write or draw your responses on the sheet of paper.

It’s OK to comment on things written or drawn by others. DO NOT SPEAK or communicate in any other way than on the paper.

- 21 - Consensus (DFs) Discuss the issue and aim to reach a decision that everyone is prepared to agree with (rather than a majority vote). Use hand signals to indicate how you feel about what others are saying. The key one is ‘jazz hands’ to indicate agreement, but can also include ‘technical point’, ‘veto’

Groups discussed using the rules for a short time, and then continued the discussion without the rules. Feedback was given on how the discussion changed without the rules: ● Adults took over the discussion ● The discussion kept going ● We stopped and played a game!

Games Share

Participants shared some of their favourite games, including: Quieter Games ● Pass the clap ● Switch ● Eyes down Eyes up ● Wink Murder ● Stand up ● Crossed/Uncrossed ● Hinky Pinky

Getting to know you/name games ● Person bingo ● The sun shines on/I was on a train with ● Animal game ● Name and action go around ● Toothbrush go around ● Human Dominoes ● Name and favourite animal go around ● Zombie name game

Energetic games ● Follow the leader ● Scarecrow Tig ● The one and only (Banana song) ● Weeping angels ● Keeper of the keys ● Dripping tap - 22 - ● Golden River ● Duck Duck Goose ● Sausages ● Benchball ● Traffic Lights ● Rounders ● Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur ● Sly Fox ● What are you doing? ● Detective Game ● Untie the knot ● Obstacle Course ● Bees and wasps

Descriptions of these games are in Appendix 6. More games can be found in the Games Games Games book available from Folk Supply.

Virtual Campfire

Songs sung around the Virtual Campfire included: ● Red River Valley ● Streets of London ● Green Grow the Rushes O ● Back of the Bus ● The Banks are Made of Marble ● Worm Song ● Dorcas ● The Quartermaster’s Stores ● Blue Lake and Rocky Shore ● I Like the Flowers ● Oh Freedom ● The Hammer Song

- 23 - Useful Resources Tunes for many of the songs in the Woodcraft songbooks can be heard by visiting: ● Houslow Woodcraft’s songs page ● Pip Richards’ YouTube playlist ● Ish Ash Osh songs blog

Promoting Positive Behaviour

Session Aims ● Be able to use a range of techniques to respond constructively to challenging behaviour ● Be able to work with other adults (and children) to establish consistent behaviour guidance

In small groups, participants pooled their ideas about the ways that they already work to manage challenging behaviour in their groups: ● Positive reinforcement ● Quiet words ● A ‘two card’ system ● Red card – miss next group night ● Calling on a particular leader for support ● Not telling off your own child ● In a conflict, give culprits a chance to say what they want without interruption, ask how they want conflict resolved ● Talk to the child and try and understand what is driving the behaviour ● ‘Code Red’ – an instruction to another leader to deal with your own child’s behaviour ● Laying down groundrules ● Group rules written by the group and signed by the young people ● Introducing next stage of session plan (if activity is almost finished) ● Talking to both children, not just getting one side of a conflict ● Giving ‘The Stare’ ● Agree standards of behaviour with the group to use peer pressure ● Never make empty threats – always be consistent ● Ask children to repeat private conversations for the whole group ● At camp give a specific task to one child (e.g. washing up), but use this for leader to instigate a discussion about the negative behaviour ● Time out or miss part of next activity ● Give two warnings ● Speak to the child’s parents

- 24 - - 25 - Owen shared with the group: ● Strategies for defusing and de-escalating dangerous or confrontational situations ● Information on Choice Theory and the Challenge-Ignore-Divert model ● Examples of group guidelines

Useful Resources ● What is Challenging Behaviour? ● Choice Theory & Challenge-Ignore-Divert

Keeping Safe: Risk Assessment

Session Aims ● Understand and have practiced completing risk assessments

Participants were asked for their thoughts on why we do risk assessment: ● List risks that can happen ● Minimise risks ● Think about what and how we do things ● Cover our arses

Katy reminded the group that Woodcraft Folk and its insurers require a risk assessment to have been completed for all activities, and that in practice this meant that groups should, as a minimum, complete risk assessments for: ● normal group night activities in their usual venue (e.g. running games, crafts) ● any other venue regularly used (e.g. outdoor space) ● any new temporary or permanent venue (e.g. local park) ● any activity that has risks above usual group night programme (e.g.woodwork, rock climbing) ● every camp or residential

It was noted that risks could arise from a number of different factors, and it could help to identify potential risks by considering each category in turn, i.e.: ● Environmental risks = venue, equipment, location ● Activity risks = equipment, physical contact ● Participant risks = needs, experience, abilities, relationships & interaction ● Leader risks = experience, abilities, relationships & interaction ● External factors = weather, members of the public

The template asks for both the likelihood and severity of the risk to be scored from 1 to 5. Eden shared the following guidance for scoring severity by thinking about the need of the child, for example: - 26 - 1. Reassurance and some tender loving care 2. Minor First Aid treatment e.g. clean and cover 3. Major First Aid treatment and GP referral 4. Hospital visit or ambulance called 5. Multiple A&E visits or fatal injury

Note that injuries are not the only way to measure severity – there may be financial consequences (e.g. having to replace valuable equipment) or reputational ones (school doesn’t allow us to use the venue any more).

Using the session plans devised in the Programme Planning session, the group completed risk assessments for their sessions using the template available on the Woodcraft website.

Owen shared with the group a ‘red-amber-green’ scale for risk depending on their severity and likelihood, and discussed ways that unacceptably high risks can be addressed:

Likelihood of risk occurring 1 2 3 4 5

S 1 1 2 3 4 5 e v 2 2 4 6 8 10 e r 3 3 6 9 12 15 i 4 4 8 12 16 20 t y i f r i s 5 5 10 15 20 25 k o c c u r s

Green – low risk. Can we accept this risk? - 27 - Amber – medium risk. What can we do to make it safer?

Red – high risk. Is this really an appropriate activity?

To manage risks we can do three things: ● Transfer the risk to someone else (take out insurance, ask a qualified instructor to lead the session) ● Reduce the risk (wear protective clothing, supervise children closely) ● Avoid the risk (don’t do the activity)

The group discussed how to involve adults and children in identifying potential risks, and agreed that for risk assessments to be effective leaders needed to ensure that they talk to adults and children about the risks they identified and how to control them. Risk assessments shouldn’t be left to the group co-ordinator to complete, or just left in a folder!

- 28 - It was also agreed that it was important to review risk assessments for standard activities regularly, and in particular after any accident or near miss, to ensure that the controls in place are still sufficient.

Useful Resources ● Template Risk Assessment and guidance ● Health & Safety Policy for Woodcraft groups ● Accident Reporting Form ● Risk Assessment Webinar

Outcomes for Children & Young People

Session Aims ● Participants remind themselves of the benefits Woodcraft brings to young people ● Participants can identify ways to achieve their desired outcomes for young people

Using the discussions with children the previous day as a starting point, participants suggested some of the reasons that young people participated in our groups and what they enjoyed about being part of Woodcraft: ● Making friends ● Singing ● Craft ● Outdoors activities ● New experiences ● Den building ● Experience for employment ● Their voices are heard ● We are cheap ● Camping ● They are listened to ● Being in a mixed age group ● Messy ● Feeling of belonging ● No tests/exams ● Making noise ● Welcoming to all ● Increases life chance ● They have choice ● Unpressured (compared to school)

- 29 - In smaller groups, participants discussed the outcomes that they would like children to experience by being part of Woodcraft Folk: ● Going outdoors ● Getting away from technology ● Being part of an organisation ● Learning new skills ● Enjoyment ● Feeling valued ● Pushing themselves to learn new things ● Awareness of the world ● Can change the world and themselves ● Meeting new children ● Having new experiences ● Inspire and education around social issues ● Improve life chances ● Encourage curiosity and debate ● Practical skills and knowledge ● Building confidence ● Independence ● Have an opinion ● Give them opportunities to do things they wouldn’t otherwise ● Empowering them to challenge situations ● Opportunity to be valued for different skills ● Challenging attitude ● Learning social skills- tolerance, sharing, empathy ● Possibility that society can run this way ● Sense of community ● Maturity ● Fun ● To be themselves ● Confidence to be different ● Conscious awareness of world/environment ● Chance to take responsibility and take risks ● Care about others ● Positive role models ● Socially responsible ● Acceptance ● Develop critical thinking and learning ● Challenge the current worldview – political, environmental & social norms

Owen suggested that there was strong evidence that Woodcraft groups were achieving many of these aims, and he shared evidence from the impact analysis undertaken by Catch the Light with Scottish Woodcraft Folk groups in 2013, which indicated that:

- 30 - ● 92% of children enjoyed or really enjoyed games at group ● 84% of children felt safe at group ● 77% of children enjoyed or really enjoyed being outside at group ● 69% of children enjoyed or really enjoyed doing new things at group ● Overall, Woodcraft Folk young members gave the highest scores to feeling safe in their group, and the lowest to knowing about where they live

He also shared the outcomes from the evaluation of the TREE project, also in 2013, when all Pioneers, Venturers and DF groups were asked to respond to a survey: ● 85% strongly agree that they have made new friends from their involvement ● 74% strongly agree that it has provided them with good experience that will benefit them in future life at school, college and in relation to jobs and training ● 74% strongly agree that they have acquired new skills ● 67% strongly agree that they feel more confident as a result of their involvement

When the responses of young people who ‘agree’ were added to those who ‘strongly agree’, there was universal/100% acceptance that their Woodcraft Folk experience had benefited them in the above ways. In addition: ● 54% strongly agree that they understand themselves better through being involved 38% strongly agree that it has helped them understand people who are different from them

- 31 - ● The group agreed that our chances of achieving the outcomes we want for children and young people are increased if we start our planning with these in mind, and discuss the intended outcomes with children and with other adults as appropriate. In small groups, participants considered some practical approaches that could make activities even more effective:

Widening worldview/alternative perspectives ● Sessions led by older age groups (Venturers/DFs) ● Fundraising to address social issues ● Adopt termly themes and plan sessions to improve understanding of the issues ● Discussion about why we do things the way we do

Sense of belonging/sense of community ● Building stronger links with sister groups in the area as well as local community ● Folk costume ● Work towards badges ● ‘Walk the Woodcraft walk’ (adults model our values)

Working outdoors ● Appropriate outdoor clothing ● Play outdoor games (e.g. torch tag)

Get away from technology ● Get children to put all phones in a hat on arrival

Building confidence ● Allow them to take responsibility and risk ● Listen to their ideas and allow them to have a choice ● Ensure everyone has the opportunity to voice their opinion and not be shot down

General ● Ensure activities are democratic and get feedback ● Funding –grant applications ● Recruiting sufficiently able/willing adult volunteers to facilitate the programme ● Knowledge is power! ● Give boundaries

Useful Resources ● Catch the Light report and Prezi (animated presentation) ● Evaluation of the TREE project ● Follow the Trail resources for reviewing the impact of your group’s work ● Evaluation & Reflection Activities to try with children and young people - 32 - ● Sustainability Scorecard for groups and districts

Training & Sources of Support

Session Aims ● Participants know where and how to get the training, resources and support they need to continue to improve as a Woodcraft Folk leader remind themselves of the benefits Woodcraft brings to young people

Participants shared the sources of support, guidance, training and resources that they already made use of in their role as volunteers: ● Woodcraft Folk website ● Other groups ● Training weekends ● Leader Handbooks ● Red Cross ● NSPCC ● Amnesty International ● Woodland Trust ● Philosophy for Children ● Old Woodcraft members ● BBC website ● Parents & other volunteers ● Volunteer Centre ● Books ● Google & Pinterest

Eden shared with participants a range of other ways to access training and support:

Local Safeguarding Children Boards provide free training in safeguarding in every local authority area, which any volunteer working with children can access.

Local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) or Council for Voluntary Youth Service (CVYS) can provide training, funding advice and networking opportunities – visit NACVA and NCVYS to find organisations for your area.

First Aid training is available through Red Cross and St John Ambulance (it may be more cost-effective to ask them to come and deliver a course just for your volunteers if you have lots of people wanting to train as first aiders).

Other charities and voluntary organisations can provide specific advice, guidance and training to help you support the needs of children in your group, e.g. Sense, National Autistic Society, National Deaf Children’s Society.

- 33 - Webinars are online training seminars run by Woodcraft Folk, on subjects ranging from autism to gift aid. New webinars are publicised on the website, and previous ones can be watched back via the webinar page.

Upcoming Training opportunities run by Woodcraft Folk staff and volunteers can be found on the website, either through the Training page or the Event Calendar. This includes both residential weekends and shorter sessions.

Training Session Plans are freely available on the website – these include ‘bitesize’ versions of many of the sessions in the New Leader Training course (lasting 60-90 minutes), as well as the ‘Introducing Woodcraft’ introduction session for parents/carers and new volunteers, so that volunteers can deliver training locally with minimal cost.

New Group Journey is an online training module that takes you through the basics of setting up a new group. It has now been complimented by downloadable resources to work through with other volunteers, including guidance sheets for each of the topic areas and a checklist of the steps you need to complete to get a group up and running.

Working Together is a training course produced by the Co-operative College especially for Woodcraft groups to help volunteers work effectively with each other, identify common goals and avoid conflict. Session plans and handouts are available from the website.

Woodcraft Resource Packs are available covering a range of topics. Some are now only available PDF downloads from the website. Other resources are available in hard copy from Folk Supply, including the Elfin and Pioneer and Venturer Leader Handbooks.

Woodcraft’s Archives can provide interesting and useful source materials for activities about the history of Woodcraft Folk. The Heritage Website contains a searchable collection of digitised photographs and documents from our 90 year history, and group activities based on the collection. The site is currently being redesigned and will be relaunched early in 2016.

What Next?

Session Aims ● Participants can identify their further training needs ● Participants create an action plan from the things they have learned and explored during the training ● Gather feedback and suggestions on how to improve new leader training

Participants reconsidered the aims and expectations they had shared at the beginning of the weekend, and the group agreed that they had all been partly or fully met.

Car Park

- 34 - Emily & Katy responded to a small number of issues/queries that had been placed in the Car Park:

Is the Woodcraft Folk history film available to watch elsewhere? Yes, the film is available to watch online at this link. Lots more information can also be found on the woodcraft website and on our Heritage website. 2015 was Woodcraft Folks 90th Birthday and there has been a huge influx in heritage related activities in groups. We are hoping for a continuation on these activities this year such as Hands In activities, including the Heritage badge.

Photo consent etiquette Standard practise should be to always gain photo consent of everyone participating in activities. There should be a photo consent section on registration forms to ensure this is agreed as soon as possible. Photos of children should not be shared, online or with others, without explicit consent.

Next steps - fundraising and publicity Each new group is at very different stages but you can find lots of useful guidance via the Woodcraft website and New groups journey.

Action Planning Participants completed their own action plans, identifying what they would do as a result of participating in the course, including: ● One thing they will do ● One thing they will share with their group ● One thing they need more support with

Evaluation Participants chose between a ‘hand evaluation’ and a written evaluation form:

Hand Evaluation Thumb – something good ● Interaction with others – sharing ideas ● Sharing ideas with other groups and pooling ideas, taking things from them ● Learning about the diversity of practice within Woodcraft ● Excellent childcare ● Meeting people and sharing good practice and ideas ● Lots of useful info ● Sharing ideas ● Loads of useful information and resources ● Beautiful place, good food, nice people ● Meeting new people, being fed good food ● Meeting lovely people ● Lots of ideas - 35 - ● Great trainers!

Index finger – something to point out ● Time keeping difficult ● Membership fees for groups – it’s news to me! ● Not everyone had same level of knowledge or understanding ● Longish sessions led to lack of concentration ● I still don’t know much about the origins of Woodcraft Folk – I need to watch the film! ● Woodcraft is different for everyone – this is its strength, is it also a weakness? ● Evening session on promoting positive behaviour too late to attend if you need to put babies/tired children to bed ● I feel like there is an opportunity and challenge for Woodcraft to develop further diversity and inclusivity – all linking to values ● Parent/non parent volunteer contrasts created confusion/unsettling ● Late sessions mean sometimes parents miss out due to small kids

Middle finger – something bad, or something to improve ● Journey from Kent ● Not enough outside ● More structure/rules than new ideas ● Scary drive to the centre – not looking forward to going down the hill! ● Sleeping arrangements not very clear before (for families) – Lockerbrook website only says what sort of room is available ● Focus seemed to be heavy on safeguarding/risk – would like stronger focus on strengthening groups, values and relationships ● ‘Rowdy’ group – hard to hear over low-level disruption ● Linking planning to Woodcraft Folk aims & objectives (need to improve) ● Input from Venturers/DFs as part of the training would improve it for me – as an inspiration to many young people – their energy and ideas might help inspire the adults ● People talking over each other – less confident people could have felt overwhelmed ● Long days

Ring finger – something I’ll treasure ● The snow, the views, the location/centre ● Memories of the snowy views – beautiful ● Discovering Amanda’s birthday is the day before mine ● Games and ideas for more games ● Woodburning ● Meeting lots of friendly and likeminded people ● Singing ● Being vulnerable - 36 - ● Friday night ● Friendships ● New friends and contacts – great networking opportunity ● Reconnecting with the objectives & principles ● Time and space to reflect on what/why I am part of Woodcraft (without my children!) ● New friends

- 37 - Little finger – a little thing ● Temperature change not always good ● Eden & Owen were ace! ● Thanks – great to have the New Group support and project ● Thank you to all the crèche workers for making the experience fun for the children ● Great venue and the food was ace! ● Great to reinforce Woodcraft is different for different groups ● People welcoming and tolerant of babies in the workshops ● AMAZING FOOD! Scrum scrum ● Nice food ● People giving my kids their time and energy ● Great snow ● In the interests of being inclusive it would have been good to have been consulted/informed about sleeping arrangements and dietary issues

Written Evaluation What part of the training did you find most useful? ● Review of Safeguarding procedures ● How to run sessions with more focus and more alignment to the aims and ethos of the Woodcraft Folk ● Games, aims & principles, discussion techniques, risk assessment

And what was the least useful? ● Car park ● Outcomes for children & young people (especially the second half)

How could the day be improved? ● Warmer environment ● Music for the songs ● Adults attending talking less during sessions

What will you do differently as a result of the training? ● Be prepared to delegate more responsibilities to fellow volunteers ● Everything! Feel I have learnt so much useful stuff, and even more enthusiastic about Woodcraft Folk ● I feel more competent in what I need to do to run a group and hence more confident ● Get more involved

- 38 - What additional training or support do you need? ● Support with fundraising and volunteer recruiting ● Possibly some more input on planning from someone more experienced in doing such things ● Giving some sessions a go

Anything else? ● Thanks – it was awesome! ● Great time – been inspired ● No, but if I do I know where to get it

- 39 - Who Are These Folk? Appendix 1

Woodcraft Folk is a national voluntary youth and children's organisation. Woodcraft groups are split into age ranges: Woodchips (0 - 5); Elfins (6 - 9); Pioneers (10 - 12); Venturers (13 - 15) and DFs (16 – 20).

Most Woodcraft groups meet weekly to take part in fun, educational activities, including discussion, drama games, arts and crafts. They reflect our aim of Education for Social Change.

Members used to wear green folk shirts that had to be tucked in! Some still choose to wear a traditional folk shirt with various badges they sew on but others wear hoodies and t shirts, many of which are designed by young people.

90 years after we were founded, we are still going strong and taking young people on camps and activities inspired by Leslie Paul's original vision.

Most groups go camping and on residential weekends every year. Nearly 400 groups are run all over England, Scotland and Wales.

We are always getting involved in exciting new projects and working with other organisations that have similar values and vision.

We are a democratic organisation and every year our members get together to help set our priorities for the coming year. All age groups are involved and each district is encouraged to send at least one member to our decision making conference that we call AG – Annual Gathering.

The DF motto is Span The World With Friendship and we take part in many international exchanges including a large international camp in the UK every five years.

Everyone in Woodcraft is equal, young and old.

When we meet or camp we form a circle so that everyone can be seen, heard and take part in decision making, and so that everyone is given a chance to share their opinions and experiences.

We have had strong links to the Cooperative movement since we started and cooperation is still one of our main values.

Woodcraft Folk is an independent charity and we are not linked with any political party or organised religion.

We welcome people from all faiths, backgrounds and beliefs.

- 40 - Woodcraft has loads and loads of useful resources and materials (both on paper and electronically) to help people run fun activities.

You can get books, badges and clothes from Folk Supply, including our songbooks and Games Games Games, our popular book of co-operative games.

Many groups do things differently, but a favourite with all groups is cooperative parachute games.

For many years Woodcraft has campaigned for environmental sustainability and our activities include this as a theme. There has recently been a comeback for Bushcraft activities.

Through our activities, Woodcraft Folk aims to develop self-confidence and activity in society, with the aim of building a world based on equality, friendship, peace and co- operation. Woodcraft actively supports our young people in their work campaigning for a fairer world.

How did we start? In 1925, a 19 year old man called Leslie Paul started the first Woodcraft Folk group as an alternative to the Scouts. He wanted to see a group that had equal opportunities for girls and boys and that was driven by his passion for peace, freedom and democracy around the world.

Leslie Paul wanted to offer children from the city experience of the countryside and took them camping. He did this to help them learn more about nature and things they didn't see every day, including animals, trees and plants.

In the 1920s, children were not allowed to call adults by their first names and so folk names were adopted, for example Leslie Paul was known as ‘Little Otter’. Nowadays, most groups just use first names but some groups still carry on this tradition and do naming ceremonies for those who want them.

How are we run? Woodcraft Folk is run locally and nationally by volunteer adult members, who must have a DBS clearance. Woodcraft Folk is managed by a team of volunteers – General Council – half of them are under 25. We have a small staff at the offices in London, Wakefield, Wales and Scotland, and at residential centres, led by our General Secretary.

- 41 - My Woodcraft Journey Appendix 2

Allerton Bywater Kirkstall & Bramley

Ashford & Kennington Cambridge

- 42 - Leicestershire Leighton / Linslade

Sheffield Shipley

- 43 - Horton

- 44 - Example Session Plans Appendix 3

International Understanding One World

Religion World At Peace

- 45 - - 46 - Session Plan Template Appendix 4

Date / Venue Role Volunteers Leaders

First Aider Register Take bag for next week Last one out of hall Notices

Do any of the activities help children to think about our Aims & Principles? ❑ Education for ❑ Co-operation ❑ International ❑ Rights of the ❑ Religion ❑ One World Social Change Friendship Child Other Session Aims

- 47 - Games Circle Main Activity (15 mins) (10 mins) (50 mins) Details of activity

Resources required

Volunteers

- 48 - Safeguarding Scenarios Appendix 5

Scenario Legislation & Policy Practice issues What happened? An 11 year old boy turns up at There is no legislative framework The child may have additional Pioneer was allowed to join in Pioneer group and asks to join. to inform practice. support or behavioural issues group activities. His parents did He is not accompanied by his All children require parental you should know about. not know where he was, they parents/carers. consent to engage in WcF Recommend to ring the child’s had left him playing in the park. activities. parents and inform them where The child’s parents called the Police. Emergency contact, medical and the child is and ask them for support information should be details of medical information collected for all children. over the phone. Ask them to collect their child at the end of Attendance of an extra child group so registration can be could mean that agreed ratios completed. are not met. Recommended not to allow the child to participate without speaking to parents. At District camp a DF male aged There is no legislative framework Potentially increase peer The District agreed that only 17 requests that he shares a tent to inform practice. pressure around sexuality for those who shared a roof off with his girlfriend aged 18. Good practice guidance suggests other campers. camp could share canvas on over and under 18s should not camp. share unless they are related. A leader offers to drive home a There is no legislative framework Recommended practice is to ring An allegation was made against Venturer as it is raining and dark. to inform practice. the parent and say ‘is it ok to the leader of sexual misconduct. bring x home or would you like to come and collect them?’ An adult leader often shouts, and There is no legislative framework All members (young and old) Adult was asked to leave, as the has been heard using offensive to inform practice, unless it the should be able to attend group group felt they were upsetting language in front of Elfins and activity meets the threshold for without being made to feel other children and adults. Woodchips. emotional abuse. uncomfortable. Woodcraft Folk’s Code of Offensive language is Conduct requires children to be unacceptable. treated with respect. A female leader regularly cuddles There is no legislative framework It is important to treat all The leader had developed a the Elfins. to inform practice. children equally, and support favourite, the attention was Safeguarding Policy suggests all them to be independent and unwanted by the child. physical contact should be resilient. Some training and mentoring instigated by the child or based This will occasionally require and the leader now makes a on need. offering hugs of reassurance, but positive contribution to the it has to be based on the child’s group. needs not the adults.

- 49 - A male leader arranges to take There is no legislative framework The perception of child and Adult informed that it was Venturers to the local skate park. to inform practice. parent maybe that the activity is inappropriate to develop This is not a recognised group Safeguarding policy states that a recognised/insured WcF personal friendships with night/Woodcraft activity. leader child relationships should activity. individual Venturers. be focused on group, unless The adult is open to range of relationship began before allegations of grooming. involvement in group. A male leader acts more like a There is no legislative framework Use Leader role description and Volunteer attended new leader child, joking and fooling around to inform practice. code of conduct to inform the training and now makes a with Pioneers. volunteer of what is expected positive contribution to group behaviour. activities. A parent has uploaded photos There is no legislative framework Photo consent is required for all Adult asked to remove the from camp onto a public website, to inform practice. individuals, and should only be images. tagging/naming each child. Social Media Guidance shared with advanced consent. A reminder of the Social Media recommends that individual guidance is given to all adult at children are not tagged. all WcF events. A parent expresses an interest in The Children’s Act gives guidance State clear taster period – not It was discovered that the becoming a volunteer, but does on who requires a DBS. more than half a term before volunteer had a recent not want to sign up officially. All volunteers should become a references are required. conviction for child battery, and member and submit references if This is for regular volunteers and had been delaying their DBS they are engaged in group not parental helpers. application. activities more than once a Due to poor references and the month. criminal history the individual All volunteers who attend was asked to stop engaging in overnight activities are required group activities. to have a DBS. A DF starts dating a Venturer. This only becomes an issue if the It is good practice to have at The DF became a leader for the DF is a group leader of the least one age group gap between Elfin group. The relationship Venturer – which they were in participants and leaders e.g. DF continued for 3 months then this instance. leading Pioneers is OK, Venturer ended. If the individual is a leader then it leading Elfins is OK. Both are still active in their could be argued that the leader District. abused their power to coerce the Venturer into the relationship. An adult male leader has Pioneers should not be on Actively use a WcF Group on The leader was accused of befriended Pioneers on Facebook. Facebook, where the same 2 grooming children, and despite a Facebook, and actively WcF’s Social Media Guidance people in a room applies. clear DBS on further comments on their photos and clearly promotes the use of Complete social media safety investigation with the LADO it status updates. Facebook, but using groups activities during group nights was discovered that they had rather than individual been dismissed from 2 other friendships. organisations for ‘grooming behaviour’. They were dismissed - 50 - WcF’s Social Media Guidance from WcF and reported to ISA. states that adult leaders should not be online ‘friends’ with young people unless their relationship began before their involvement in group. A leader regularly gives shoulder There is no legislative framework Use Leader role description and Volunteer attended new leader rides or piggy backs to Elfins. to inform practice. code of conduct to inform the training and now makes a volunteer of what is expected positive contribution to group behaviour. activities. A group leader (aged over 25 If the individual is a leader of the The DFs parents called the Police years) starts dating a DF. DF, or had previously been their and made many public leader it could be deemed an allegations against the Elfin abuse of power under the group leader. Protection of Vulnerable Groups The DF was 18, and the couple Act. eventually got married and have started a family. A 6 year old Elfin shows his willy Such premature sexualised Group night activities on The incident was reported to the in group, and asks other Elfins to behaviour would be an indicator appropriate behaviour & PANTS LSCB. The child’s family were “suck it”. of sexual abuse. campaign already known to social services Our Safeguarding policy would and received additional support require this to be reported to the in response to the concerns Local Safeguarding Officer and raised. The child had been the LSCB. exposed to pornographic videos in the home. A 13 year old Pioneer regularly Peer to peer bullying can still be Group night activities should be Conversations were had with falls out with another Pioneer. recognised as child abuse. done on respecting each other, both boys about bullying. What started as name calling has friendship and anti-bullying. Group programme activities become more physical e.g. Agree groundrules or a group included respect, anti-bullying, pulling down of trousers or agreement. agreeing a code of conduct for all pulling up of pants. members and sanctions for those who breach the code. A 10 year old Pioneer boys In this situation the underlying Group night activities should be The complaint was initially comes up to you and complains reason for the complaint done on respecting each other, dismissed. Later a full disclosure that he doesn’t want to tent required a referral to the LSCB, PANTS campaign and was made alleging that the older share with another slightly older following a local report to the appropriate behaviour on camp. Pioneer had previously sexually Pioneer boy. You know the older Local Safeguarding Officer. Signposting individuals to abused the younger Pioneer. boy is unpopular, but the specialist support agencies. The District reviewed tent- younger boy always complains. sharing arrangements – from 2 to 3 in a tent. Both Pioneers were signposted to specialist agencies.

- 51 - A DF attends group obviously Possession of drugs is illegal, and Signpost DF to specialist support, The DF was offered food, coffee under the influence of illegal this incident should be reported LSCB could advise. and water. drugs. to the Local Safeguarding Officer If under 18, inform parents of the The DF’s parents were informed and LSCB. incident. as they were under 18. The DF was asked to agree to a code of conduct to support their future involvement in group activities. Two DFs aged 16 are known to Physical violence is against the Inform parents. Leaders intervened and the be in a relationship. During law. This is domestic violence. Signpost both DFs to specialist Police were called. No charges dinner one evening the whole Our Safeguarding Policy requires support agencies, the LSCB will were brought against the camps witnesses an argument this to be reported to the Local be able to advise. individual. Both parties were between the two that ends with Safeguarding Officer and LSCB. signed posted to domestic one of them being punched. violence and anger management charities. You find a 10 year old boy has Whilst it is not illegal to watch 30% of 10 years view All parents were informed and downloaded pornography onto pornography, it is to download it pornography each week. signposted to the NSPCC PANTS his iPod Touch, and shared the and broadcast it. Some groups ban electronic campaign. films with his peers on camp. Our Safeguarding policy requires devices. All electronic gadgets have been this to be reported to the Local Group night activities should be banned from camp. Safeguarding Officer, and due to done on online safety, Future group programme the age of the individuals pornography and appropriate covered issues of self-respect, involved to the LSCB. behaviour on camp. body image, sexting and pornography. A 16 year old is found drunk and It is not illegal to be drunk. Signpost young person to The 16 year old was taken to unresponsive on camp. Our Safeguarding policy requires specialist support agencies, LSCB hospital, where the Police were this to be reported to the Local can advise. called following drug tests that Safeguarding Officer, and in this Group night activities should be revealed the DF had also taken incident to the LSCB. done on appropriate behaviour cannabis. The hospital made a on camp. referral to the LSCB, and a review of supervision and programme at The group may wish to impose the camp has taken place. sanctions to ensure future behaviour enables the young person to participate in camp. A Venturer comments that drugs Selling drugs is illegal. Group night activities should be The issue was reported to the are easily available at their local done on drug education. school Head of Upper School. school. The Venturer group did some drug education work during group nights. A 14 year old Venturer discloses There is no legislative framework Signpost the Venturer to local A referral was made to the LSCB, that they often self-harm. to inform practice. support agencies, the LSCB will and the Venturer was signposted

- 52 - Our Safeguarding Policy requires be able to advise. to adolescent support services. this to be reported to the Local Do not question the Venturer, Safeguarding Officer and local but let them know that if they Safeguarding Children’s Board. wish to talk you are happy to listen. If they do discuss the issue with you listen with respect and without judgement. Enable the Venturer to share and explore their situation without direction. An adult leader makes a Threatening and abusive The abusive adult left Woodcraft threatening telephone call to behaviour is illegal. Folk following a formal complaint another leader, after what they We expect all adults to follow using Woodcraft Folk’s Dispute believe to be an inappropriate the Code of Conduct and behave Resolution Procedures. challenge of their practice and in a manner in keeping with our judgement. aims and principles e.g. co- operatively, with respect, peacefully. Whistleblowing Policy could have been used to raise concerns in a more structured manner. A new group is starting in your There is no legislative framework There is a risk that the leader An alternative community venue area, and to keep costs down the to inform practice. house would become a WcF was sourced. group have decided to run drop-in and create unclear activities from the home of one boundaries between of the members. family/home-life and WcF volunteering. Woodcraft Folk have Public Liability Insurance to cover group activities. If a claim was ever to be made it would be challenging for the insurance companies to agree where personal household insurance would stop and the public liability insurance takes over. A 15 year old Venturer shares A 15 year old is below the age of Signposting to external services The Venturer was supported to her concerns that she is consent. required. access support from the Family pregnant. Our Safeguarding Policy requires Don’t question the young Planning Association, and this to be reported, and that the woman, but support her to decided to keep her baby. young woman be signposted to access medical and personal support services to help her in support. If she wishes to discuss her increased vulnerability. her pregnancy, listen with respect and without judgement. - 53 - Support the young woman to consider her options without direction. You over hear a conversation Beating children with a stick is A referral was made to the LSCB, between two Venturer boys. One physical abuse. to which the family was known. of the young men describes how Our Safeguarding Policy requires On their advice, the Venturer he is scared to do things wrong this to be reported to the Local was spoken to by the Local as his father has a stick and Safeguarding Officer and local Safeguarding Officer and offered believes in African justice. Safeguarding Children’s Board. support and signposted to family support organisations. The Venturer said his comments had been taken out of context and that whilst his father has a stick he has never used it to beat him. The situation is being monitored.

- 54 - Games We Played Appendix 6

Group Juggling Stand in a circle. Leader has a beanbag, makes eye contact with someone on the other side of the circle, says their name and throws the beanbag to them. This person throws it to someone else in the same way. Continue until everyone has had the beanbag once, and return to leader. Players stand with their hands cupped in front until they’ve had the beanbag. Leader asks everyone to point with their left hand at the person who threw the beanbag to them and with their right at the person they threw it to. Then repeat the same pattern from the beginning. Leader starts another beanbag before the first one has gone all the way round, and adds as many as the group can handle!

I Sit In The Woods Sit on chairs in a circle – there should be one spare chair. One of the people on either side of the spare chair moves into it and says ‘I sit’. The person next to them moves to their chair and says ‘in the woods’. The next person moves and says ‘and I like…’ and names someone sitting across the circle. The named person moves to the spare chair, and the two people either side of the new spare chair race to fill it and say ‘I sit’.

Bees & Wasps Divide group into two equal teams: ‘Bees’ go to one side of the hall, ‘wasps’ go to the other. Leader stands in the middle with one or more soft balls. Leader calls either ‘bees’, ‘wasps’ or ‘bees and wasps’, and the team(s) named have to run from one side to the other. Leader tries to hit players below the waist with the ball as they run. Anyone caught joins the leader in throwing the ball. Continue until one team is eliminated.

Knee Tapping Sit cross-legged in a circle. Place hands on knees. Players tap hands on their knee in turn, passing the ‘tap’ around the circle. Then players cross hands so that each has a hand on the knee of the two people either side of them, and pass the tap around the circle again. Variation: A double-tap sends the tap back in the opposite direction. Three taps makes it skip one hand (continuing in the same direction).

Puppy Sit in a circle. One person is the ‘puppy’, and goes inside the circle on all fours. Leader says the name of someone sitting in the circle, and puppy crawls towards them. They must name another person elsewhere in the circle before the puppy reaches them, and the puppy heads towards this person. If the puppy reaches the named person before they name someone else, they become the puppy.

- 55 - Knots (a.k.a. Tangles) Stand in a circle, close eyes and stretch arms in front. Take hold of hands of other players at random, and open eyes when everyone has hold of two other hands. The group works together to untangle the knot without letting go of hands, aiming to return to one (or sometimes two interlinked) circles.

Wink Murder Sit in a circle. One person is chosen as the ‘detective’ and leaves the room. Another person is chosen, secretly, as the murderer. On the detective’s return the murderer starts to dispatch players by winking at them –they then ‘die’ and are out of the game. The detective must identify the murderer before they are the only player left.

Detective Sit in a circle. One person is chosen as the ‘detective’ and leaves the room. The group make a small number of changes to their appearance, e.g. two people swap an item of clothing, jewellery, glasses. The detective returns and is told how many changes have been made. They must then try to identify who has exchanged or removed what.

The Carrot Game One person is the ‘farmer’, all the others are ‘carrots’. The carrots lie on the floor and link arms in a circle. The farmer must pick the carrots by pulling their legs. Successfully picked carrots become farmers.

Sticky Toffee As for the Carrot Game, but players can hold each other by arms and legs. Not recommended for hard floors!

Protect-A-Chair One chair per person is arranged around the room. One person is chosen to be ‘on’ and stands up, leaving an empty chair. The remaining players must work together to prevent the player down by moving to the empty chair.

Rats & Rabbits (a.k.a. Crows & Cranes) Divide group into two teams – one is ‘rats’ and the other ‘rabbits’. Teams line up facing each other in the centre of the room. The leader says a series of words beginning with ‘R’. When ‘rats’ is called, rabbits chase rats. Rats have to touch the wall before they are caught. If caught they become rabbits. The reverse happens when ‘rabbits’ is called.

The Spaghetti Game Divide into pairs. Each pair receives two strands of spaghetti, and must balance them in between them, holding them by pressure alone (i.e. without holding the ends), and walk around the room without dropping or snapping the spaghetti. Start with fingertips, progress to forehead, nose etc.

- 56 - Coin Toss (a.k.a. Electric Pulse) Divide into two equal teams and sit on chairs in lines facing each other. Teams join hands behind their backs. The leader sits between the lines at one end, and a beanbag or bunch of keys is placed on a chair between the lines at the other end. The leader tosses a coin – only the two players at the top of the line may look. If it comes up heads, players must squeeze the hand of the player next to them, and pass the ‘squeeze’ down their line as quickly as possible. The first player at the bottom of the line to receive the squeeze grabs the object. The bottom person in the winning team’s line comes to the top of the line and everyone else moves down. Play until one team is back to their original positions.

Egg-Chicken-Dinosaur All players begin as ‘eggs’, walking around hunched over. On meeting another egg, players do rock-paper-scissors. The winner may ‘hatch’ and become a chicken (cluck and flap wings). When two chickens meet, they do rock-paper-scissors. The winner evolves into a dinosaur (roar and make claws with hands), the loser becomes an egg again. If two dinosaurs meet, the loser regresses to being a chicken.

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