The State government has today advised that schools will close from Tuesday March 24.
Scouts Victoria is taking a break from face-to-face Scouting from Tuesday.
This means no meetings, camps, hikes or other activities after Monday night until further advised.
No youth member will be disadvantaged in completing their peak award. If you now have to cancel your Green Cord hike, and your 15th birthday is coming soon, you will still be able to earn your ASM. There will be more details about this and other issues soon.
And we remain very active online!
Already there are many Sections meeting online.
- Cubs doing Boomerang work together and sending videos of their efforts to their Leaders
- Joeys having a sleepover – each in their own home – connected on Zoom.
- Group Councils and Section Councils continuing to plan ahead – through Zoom or other platforms.
The usual child protection procedures apply. Everything must be public, and visible to all interested parents. No private, one-on-one conversations. A Section might set up a shared Gmail so that all emails in and out (using Reply All) are visible to all Leaders in the Section.
If you are concerned about running online meetings, please don’t be. Apart from being separated and meeting remotely, our standard practices apply.
There will be a further update early this week with more details on the trail ahead.
In the meantime, please send any questions to coronavirus@scoutsvictoria.com.au
Scouts Victoria will soon be providing resources for Scouting @ Home.
Full programs for Leaders, activity sheets for youth members – so that Sections can continue to share creative, fun Scouting online.
But you don’t have to wait till term 2.
You could plan your first event for these (extended) holidays.
In these challenging times young people need:
- some normality in their life
- continued social connection
- support for positive mental health
Let’s do our bit to support our local community and keep our youth members connected.
Stay safe,
Rod Byrnes
Chief Commissioner