11th Winchester Scout Group Moving Up Policy

Moving up at the end of a section

The decision to move a child up to the next section of Scouting rests with the Movement Coordinator in conjunction with the section leader, and under normal circumstances the following will apply:

Squirrel Scouts will move up the term after they turn 6
Beaver Scouts will move up the term after they turn 8
Cub Scouts will move up the term after they turn 10.5 years
Scouts will move up to Explorers after they turn 14

Moving Process

The moving up process will be managed and administered by the Movement Coordinator.

At each half term, the parents/carers of the members who are approaching the moving up age will be contacted and asked to complete a Moving Preference Form by a specific date
The form will ask, whether the member:

intends to move up at all
has a preference in section
has any friends they would like to move up with (who are also scheduled to move up)

3. Parents/carers will be sent one reminder to complete the form. Failure to respond by the cut-off, will be assumed the member has no preference

4. Before the end of the term, members will be notified of which section(s) are available to move up to

Moving Up Principles

Parents will always be asked for their preference as to section/day, which will be accommodated wherever possible
Moving up will only typically take place at the beginning of each term
We will try to move young people up in groups where birthdays allow, and will endeavour to ensure at least 1 friend moves to the same section they do
Priority will be given to members whose parents are actively involved in leading or supporting the Group
Existing members moving up will be given priority over new joiners
Although a space cannot be guaranteed, we will do our utmost to ensure members will have a space when they become eligible to move up
Members are expected to move up when they reach the maximum age. If a space is offered to a section but is not taken up, the member will be able to wait until a space becomes available, but typically will not be able to stay in their current section to ensure the space is made available for others
We are unable to exceed the maximum section size capacities for any reason

Moving sections midway through

A Group our size takes a great deal of work and behind the scenes admin to operate, additionally we have hundreds of children waiting to join, many of whom will be waiting for a specific evening. Moving from one section to another creates additional work for the admin team in OSM and for the finance team as our system prevents direct debits from following you from section to section, meaning new mandates need creating every time a change is made. For these reasons we will not normally allow transfers from one section to another unless it is moving up. If you believe there are exceptional circumstances that necessitate a change then please contact the Movement Coordinator.