Want to plan an activity?
Planning and running an activity with your Section, Group, District, or Region is rewarding for you and the activity participants. It provides the ability to develop planning skills and enjoy time outdoors, developing new skills and self-confidence while having fun safely.
Here you can find the steps in planning and running activities, including links to the various resources and systems you will need to use.
Specific terms have defined meanings. These terms are in bold, and they are defined in the Glossary.
PLAN
- You can run activities based on:
- your qualifications
- the risk of the activity
- the activity conditions
- the ability of the participants, and
- how you will supervise the participants
- If you are an adult (excluding Rover Scouts), you must have, at minimum, a Certificate of Proficiency or have a leader with you who has an Adult Appointment.
- You can run a Rover Scout activity based on your Rover Scout appointment if you are a Rover Scout.
- Look at “What Activities I Can Run?” for details.
- If you do not have the qualifications and want to gain them, please refer to Get Qualified. Check out the list in the Qualifications Listing folder on Teams to find your qualifications (you need to know your Scout Number and be a NSW Scout Leader with Office 365 to gain access).
- There are many other qualified Adventurous Activity Leaders, including Adventurous Activity Guides, in NSW. Please refer to the lists of qualified leaders, including the NSW Guide List in the Qualifications Listing folder on Teams, to find the names and activity disciplines of the Guides in NSW. You need to know your Scout Number and be a NSW Scout Leader with Office 365 to gain access.
- All Adventurous Activities must have an Activity Plan. The Activity Plan can be straightforward if undertaking a low-risk activity. It may even be possible to include it on a single page if the activity is low risk.
- Activities occurring within a Group’s hall or 2km of it and remaining in an urban environment such as a walk, wide game or pioneering below 2m (but excluding any vertical or rope activities) are not considered Adventurous Activities. They don’t need to follow this process. Likewise, activities like going 10-pin bowling are not Adventurous Activities.
- More planning is required if planning an activity with higher risk. Refer to the Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 4 Planning for detail.
- Use the Activity Plan Template to document and communicate your plan. Alternatively, you can export the activity plan from Terrain though check it includes all the information required in the NSW Activity Plan Template.
- When planning your Adventurous Activity, prepare the Activity Notification to inform Youth Members and their parents about the Adventurous Activity and obtain their Informed Consent. Activity Notification is either a form in Operoo or the paper E1 Part I and II forms.
- The Activity Notification can also be developed in one of the Event Management Systems. Usually, the Event Management System is only used for Region or State activities.
- If you are using Operoo, please refer to the Support Guide for Operoo.
- All Adventurous Activities must have an Activity Risk Assessment. There should not be a need to significantly modify the Standard Risk Assessment for many activities.
- Refer to Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 3 Management of Risk for details on managing risk for Adventurous Activities. We’d like you to consistently use the Standard Risk Assessments and modify them for your specific activity. When you modify, use strikethrough to delete something and underline when adding something.
- A set of Standard Risk Assessments by activity discipline are available here. Not all have been developed but will be through 2022.
- The Activity Plan, Activity Notification and Activity Risk Assessment must be reviewed and approved. Sometimes this includes obtaining budgetary approval.
- The approver is likely to be your Group or Formation Leader for lower-risk activities. Look at “What Activities I Can Run?” to determine who needs to approve your Adventurous Activity.
- If you are new to planning activities, it makes sense to ask your approver for guidance before seeking approval.
- Use the Activity Notification and Approval System (ANS v2) to obtain approval for your activity. You’ll need to send it to the correct approver and give that approver enough time for review. You will also need to plan enough time to make any requested changes. Five days is often enough time for the Regional Commissioner Activities.
- You can find a user guide to the Activity Notification and Approval system here
- Once your Adventurous Activity is approved, you can advertise it to your youth members and their parents and obtain consent.
- See Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 4 Planning and Section 5 Participants for details on approval and consent.
DO
- It’s essential you use the time between planning and doing your activity to get everyone ready. Ensure that the participants have the right equipment, know how to use it, and have the right skills. Ensure that the weather and conditions you will experience are understood.
- See Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 5 Participants, Section 6 Environment and Section 7 Equipment and Logistics for some items to be considered.
- Scouts NSW needs to know what Adventurous Activities are occurring and where they are taking place. Emergency Contacts are required, and Scouting Leadership must be informed of all Adventurous Activities.
- Use the activity Approval and Notification System (ANS v2) to notify (the same system you used to get approval). Once your activity is approved, ANS will automatically notify appropriate people, including Emergency Contacts and Scouting Leadership, so you won’t need to use it again in most cases. Brief all adult and youth leaders who are part of the activity leadership, including the Emergency Contacts.
- See Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 5.1 Notification and 9.2 Briefing for more information.
- Review the Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 3.8 Risk Management Conduct. This details how you should brief risks at the start of an activity, including how to have Adventurous Activity Leaders and participants understand and acknowledge the risk assessment and activity.
- You must brief leaders and participants at the beginning of your Adventurous Activity. The Activity Plan helps organise your thoughts when briefing.
- Run the plan, review risks, follow safe activity practices, and keep everyone safe. Most importantly – have fun and manage any incidents.
- See Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 9 Conduct for more information.
REVIEW
- Have an Activity Review with the participants and think about what worked and didn’t. Write the review up and communicate it so others can learn. You may want to use an electronic form to capture feedback, and this Feedback Form Guide shows you how.
- If an incident or near-miss occurred, log it following the process in Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 3.13 Incidents and the WHS Incident Reporting System.
- If there was an equipment issue, log it or tell the appropriate person through email.
Finally, log the activity in your Personal Logbook. See Adventurous Activity Core Conduct Procedure Section 9 Conduct for more details and the Logbook Support Guide.
