Admissions

Admissions Criteria

Provided that children are of the correct age group for membership of a given section, places will be allocated in the following order of precedence (i.e. those meeting Criterion 1 will be admitted before Criterion 2, and so on)

• Criterion 1: Children of, or related to, leaders of any of the Scout (or local Guide) group sections, or designated members of the Scout Executive Committee (Chair, Treasurer, or Secretary) in recognition of the time and effort they put into the running of the Group.

• Criterion 2: Transfers from within the group as young people progress from Beavers to Cubs and from Cubs to Scouts will take priority over admissions from the waiting list; given the value to the Group of progression. 

A waiting list may nevertheless be needed from time to time for progression between sections (e.g. as bulges come through).

This same criterion shall be applied to children who move into our area, and who were already a member

of Beavers, Cubs or Scouts at their previous address; it will not however be applied to those who were on a waiting list, but whom had not yet joined a section.

• Criterion 3: Length of time on the waiting list for new entrants to the group, but with priority given to girls if they make up less than 10% of the membership of the relevant section. This reflects both the policy that Scouting is open to children of either sex, and the recognition that girls are likely to be in the minority and unlikely to want to be involved if there are only 1 or 2 in a section.

• Criterion 4: Address. The group will only take children from outside the St Michael’s Church parish, and even within that the area North of the Winterbourne Road, if there is space. This recognizes that Little Stoke, Filton, and Bradley Stoke all have their own Scout Groups The group also has a policy of not poaching from Rainbows/Brownies/Guides. 

Other factors/exceptions

Any exceptions to the criteria above shall require the agreement of the Group Scout Leader and the Executive Group Chair.

The Group reserves the right to decline an offer of a place, or indeed to ask for the withdrawal of a member from the Group, if it deems that membership is not in the “best interests” of either the child, or the Group. Such decisions will not be taken lightly, and always require the agreement of the Group Scout Leader and Executive Group Chairman. By way of example, reasons could include where the Group can not adequately accommodate a child who has additional needs due to disability/behaviour problems (though it must be emphasised that the Group will always endeavour to accommodate such

children), or where there is good reason to believe that satisfactory relationships cannot be sustained between the Section Leader/Scout Group and the child’s parent/carer.