Welcome and general information

Welcome to the 6th Bury St Edmunds St Marys Beaver Scout Colony and we hope your child enjoys their first meeting and will want to continue.

Beaver Scouts are the youngest section of the Scout Movement catering for children age from 5 years, 9 months to 8 years old. Our colony is part of 6th Bury St Edmunds St Marys Scout Group.

At 6th Bury St Edmunds St Marys Beaver Scout Colony, we meet on Tuesdays from 6.00p.m. to 7.15p.m. at the Scout Headquarters, College Lane, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP31 1QE. We normally meet in school term time only. We do encourage regular attendance, so if your child needs to be absent for 3 weeks or more, please let us know, in order that we may keep their place.

Joining 6th Bury St Edmunds Beavers

To apply to join 6th Bury St Edmunds Beavers, please click the button below

Join 6th Bury St Edmunds Beavers

If your child is aged between 5 Years, 9 Months and 8 Years Old, we may have places available to start immediately, if not or if your child is below 5 years, 9 months, we will contact you when a place becomes available. You are welcome to sign up to our Want to Join List from birth.

Subscriptions and fundraising

There is a half termly subscription of £18.00. This covers our colony costs and the annual membership fee paid to The Scout Association. This is usually paid online through Online Scout Manager, You will be emailed details of this when the payment becomes due. If for any reason you cannot pay online, please speak to a leader so that other arrangements to pay may be made. The subscriptions do not cover purchase of large equipment so we regularly organise fundraising activities. We ask you to give us your full support with these events.

Another easy way we can add to our funds is by claiming back the tax you have paid HM Revenue & Customs on your child’s subscription. This is called Gift Aid. If possible, please fill in a Gift Aid declaration through OSM, if you do not receive an email requesting you to make a Gift Aid Declaration, please speak to a leader.

Uniform

The beaver uniform is a turquoise sweatshirt with navy blue combat style trousers. There are official uniform trousers, but these are not compulsory. Any other navy trousers are acceptable. Our group scarf is half light blue, and half grey. The uniform will be required by the time of investiture. This can be obtained from The Scout Shop in Bury St Edmunds which is open every Saturday morning from 9.30am to 12.30pm and also each Wednesday evening from 7pm to 8.00pm (term time only). It is located in the South Parade Shops, Lake Avenue, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6HX. Click here to visit their website. Please clearly name all items of uniform

Investiture

This is approximately 4-6 weeks after joining. Parents are notified of the date of investiture and families are invited to attend.

Programme

The weekly programme is varied and over time covers all the requirements for the six Beaver Scouts Challenge Badges and the Chief Scout’s Bronze Award. There are several activity badges which can also be achieved. Some of these, beavers can choose to work for at home, for more information see the badge page. It is important that parents give their child full support and encouragement in all their scouting activities.

Moving on to Cubs

Shortly after reaching 8 years of age, Beaver Scouts transfer to the Cub Scout Section. 6th Bury St. Edmunds St Marys Cub Scout Pack meets on a Wednesdays from 6.30pm to 8.00pm.

Scouting for the Whole Family

Scouting is open to all and we like to include the whole family if that is what they wish, there is also enclosed, information about adults joining the movement. We always welcome help from any adult who wishes to help us in any way they can, but you are not obliged to become an adult helper in order for your child to join us.

Beavers are the youngest section in scouting and the earliest a child may join us is 5 years and 9 months, they may remain with us until just after their 8th Birthday when they may join Cubs, which provides scouting for children aged 8 years to 10½ Years. From 10 years onwards, Children are welcome to join Scouts which provides scouting for children aged 10 years to 14 years. From 14 years until 18 years Children may join Explorers. If you have children who are old enough to join any of these sections, please ask a leader for details of how to join or click here.

Inclusive Scouting

As we mentioned above, Scouting is open to all and we welcome people from all backgrounds. Between us we have a wealth of experience working with children with special needs and we will always endeavour to work with you to ensure that you child is able to access scouting as much as possible.

Finally

Thank you for taking the time to read this information and we look forward to working with you in the future. If you have any queries at any time, please do not hesitate to get in touch with a leader. Direct Contact details for leaders will be given at the time of joining.