Info for Parents

Joining and Membership

Age Groups

How to Join

We do our best to move young people off our waiting list into a section as soon as we can but every now and then our waiting list gets overwhelmed and adding more young people with no real chance of ever offering them a place seems unfair. When this happens we will close our waiting list. We guarantee progression through the Group for all young people (there’s no need for Beavers to re-apply for Cubs etc).

There is no waiting list for anyone wishing to join our leader teams and we give a high priority to those waiting to join if they have an adult family member willing to take on a uniformed leadership role within 1st Malden.

Our waiting list priorities are:

  • Children of adults prepared to volunteer with 1st Malden
  • Brothers or sisters of children already in 1st Malden
  • Children from the waiting list with those who joined the list first accepted first

You can join our waiting list by entering your details here

Membership Fees (Autumn 2025):

  • Beavers – £45.50 per term
  • Cubs – £50.65 per term
  • Scouts £55.80 per term
  • Explorers £64 per term

This fee covers the Scout Association membership fee, payments to County and District organisations and provides insurance, support services, leader training and some equipment. This fee also includes a small amount to cover activity materials for the section. Fees are due from the start of the term of investiture. Additional optional activities and camps are charged separately. We would never want to exclude a young person from activities due to financial hardship so please feel free to speak to us in confidence if the cost of Scouting at 1st Malden becomes an issue. We don’t expect anyone to take part in all the opportunities we offer and we try and balance more expensive activities with some cheaper options so there should be something for everyone!

What is Scouting?

As Scouts, we believe in preparing young people with skills for life. We bring communities together and contribute to society. Scouting exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development. We are guided by these values: integrity, respect, care, belief and cooperation. Scouting takes place when young people, in partnership with adults:

  • Value and live by the Scout Promise and Law
  • Participate in a varied, balanced programme of fun, challenging activities, often outdoors
  • Learn by doing, taking responsibility, making decisions and reflecting
  • Achieve badges and awards
  • Become active, skilled citizens and leaders, connected to their communities and empowered to make a positive impact on society

Through Scouting, children learn:

  • Leadership and teamwork
  • Problem-solving and decision-making
  • Practical skills (e.g., cooking, first aid)
  • Environmental awareness

Outcomes for Young People

Adventure – physically active, healthier lifestyles, with courage to try new things

Skills for life – skills to succeed regardless of academic ability

Wellbeing – happy resilient and confident

Leadership – responsible leaders and team players

Citizenship – active citizens in society – locally, nationally and internationally

Connectedness – strong friendships, with care, trust and respect for others from all backgrounds

The Scout Promise and Law

Scouts is open to people of all faiths and none and has had multiple versions of the Promise for many years enabling young people and adults of all religions and those with no faith to make a Promise appropriate to them. In addition, we have a version of the Promise suitable for foreign nationals living in the UK. We believe this approach is inclusive. Celebrating and understanding differences, including differences in faiths and beliefs, is an important aspect of the educational and development side of Scouting. Scouts are asked to choose the promise they make when they are invested.

The Scout Promise can be found here:

Safety and Support

The safety of our members is our top priority. All our volunteers are:

  • Fully trained and DBS-checked
  • Committed to providing a safe and inclusive space

We also adhere to The Scouts’ safeguarding policies and guidelines. More information here.

Drop off and Collection

We encourage families to walk or bike to meetings and we have secure cycle storage. Where using the car is unavoidable please try to arrange lift-shares with other parents and always park considerately in our neighbouring streets at drop off and collection without blocking any drives, including the Scout HQ drive as Leaders need access to off-road parking. Beavers and Cubs need to be brought to the HQ doors by an adult and will be handed over to an adult at the end of the meeting. Scouts and Explorers can make their own way to and from meetings. 

Phones

We understand that Scouts may need to bring a phone with them to Scouts although they will not usually need to use a phone during our meetings. We therefore provide safe storage for phones during weekly meetings and Scouts can collect them before they leave at the end. We usually discourage Scouts from bringing phones to camp. Feedback shows they often enjoy the opportunity of being able to ‘unplug’ for a weekend. 

Behaviour

At 1st Malden, we pride ourselves in being an inclusive and welcoming community, where every young person has the opportunity to thrive, learn, and grow. We work closely with families to make Scouting at 1st Malden a positive experience for everyone and we welcome feedback from parents when problems arise so we can work together to resolve these. We have clear expectations around behaviour to ensure the safety and well-being of all our members – after all many of the activities we do involve elements of risk (eg building a camp fire, cooking, climbing, water sports) and we need to be confident we can keep everyone safe. 

Situations may arise where behaviour puts others at risk. We are committed to working in partnership with families to address challenges and in these instances, appropriate steps will need to be taken to keep our meetings safe. We sometimes ask parents to accompany their child to meetings or to suggest strategies to help us manage challenging behaviour. We value parental support in building a safe and inclusive space for all young people.

Broadly speaking, all sections use a similar approach to promoting positive behaviour:

  • Step 1 Warnings – Young people are reminded what behaviour is expected of them and allowed to continue the game/activity.
  • Step 2 Time out to reflect – Young people may be asked to sit out of a game/activity. A leader will check-in to explain they understand why this has happened and to help them work out a way to re-join the game/activity.
  • Step 3 Informing parents – As above, but the parent will be informed at the end of the meeting and if the parent is not collecting, an email will be sent.

Next steps – If a parent has to be informed about poor behaviour choices more than once leaders will initiate a conversation about next steps and the Group Lead Volunteer may be involved.

Communication

1st Malden uses a tool called Online Scout Manager (OSM) to help with the administration. As a parent, you can sign up for an account, after clicking the link in an email that your leaders will send. You can access the system at www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk You can use the system to update personal details, view the weekly programme, sign up and pay for camps and events, keep track of progress towards badges and awards and pay membershi subscriptions. We have an open Facebook group for Beaver, Cub and Scout parents “1st Malden Scout Group”.

Parental Help

The Scout Association is a voluntary organisation and 1st Malden has a fantastic team of 26 adults involved in everything from being Charity Trustees to being part of a Beaver, Cub, Scout or Explorer leader team.  Not all volunteers are available every week and we operate a flexible volunteering scheme that works really well for us. This means we rely on parental help at weekly meetings and on outings to give support to the regular volunteers and to make sure we meet the Scouts’ rigorous safety standards. One of the reasons we can offer such a wide range of opportunities to a large number of young people is the parental support we received.

If it’s impossible for you to help out at a section meeting, there are lots of opportunities for parents to get involved with the Scout Group, either helping with maintenance of the grounds or HQ, fundraising, helping with paperwork or coming along on a residential activity or day trip. We’re very grateful to all the parents who already help us. 

If you’d like to make a regular commitment to helping 1st Malden in any capacity, please let us know.  More about volunteering with us can be found here.

Uniform and Equipment

Uniforms

Once Beavers, Cubs and Scouts are invested (make the Scout promise in a short investiture ceremony – usually a month or two after joining) they are expected to arrive for meetings and to leave in uniform. Before their investiture children should wear comfortable clothing suitable for playing active games, eg T-shirt, trousers and trainers. The Group provides a purple ‘1st Malden’ polo shirt which can be worn under the uniform and instead of uniform shirts/jumpers in the Summer Term. Our Group scarf (green) and a woggle are also supplied by the Group and presented at the investiture. Please name ALL uniform – especially scarves. 

Where to Buy

New uniform is available online at Scout Store (https://shop.scouts.org.uk/) or if you need to try on uniform for size you can visit Epsom and Ewell Scout Shop in Stoneleigh. (https://www.epsomandewellscouts.org.uk/shop/ ) The shop is run by a team of volunteers and can supply or order all the items available at the Scout Store with a significant share of the profit being reinvested back into local Scouting. 

1st Malden has a small supply of second-hand uniform items available for a donation.  Please feel free to donate any uniform your child has outgrown.

Equipment

New uniform is available online at Scout Store (https://shop.scouts.org.uk/) or if you need to try on uniform for size you can visit Epsom and Ewell Scout Shop in Stoneleigh. (https://www.epsomandewellscouts.org.uk/shop/ ) The shop is run by a team of volunteers and can supply or order all the items available at the Scout Store with a significant share of the profit being reinvested back into local Scouting. 

1st Malden has a small supply of second-hand uniform items available for a donation.  Please feel free to donate any uniform your child has outgrown.

Badges

There is a wide selection of badges Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers can achieve. We work together on some and young people are welcome to complete badges as an individual. Activity badges are completed either as a Troop or as an individual. Activity badges allow young people to show their progress in existing pursuits but also to try new things and form new interests. https://www.scouts.org.uk/information-for-parents/scout-badges/

Photographs

During Scouting activities we often take photographs and videos of our members doing what they do and we publish these in various ways. We might display them on the wall at our HQ, on our Facebook group, on Instagram, on our website or in a newsletter. We may send them to the local or national press. Occasionally the press will attend Scouting events. We avoid publishing names of children alongside photos but we cannot guarantee that this will never happen. We cannot be held responsible if images are tagged by a third party, shared by anyone (in 2015 a Hungry Hippos video we shared went viral with more than 20 million views to date), or if your child’s name is printed or mentioned by the local, national or international press. As Scouting often takes place in areas visible to the public we have no control over third party photographs. If you or your child are uncomfortable with the idea of your child appearing in photographs and videos that may be available for public viewing, please let us know.