Parents

The health, safety and welfare of our young volunteers is of paramount importance to St John Cymru Wales, and we have robust systems, processes and policies in place to ensure that every young volunteer across Wales remains safe.

To volunteer with St John Cymru Wales, our Youth Leaders must first provide two satisfactory references as well as pass an Enhanced (with a Barred List) Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. These are criminal record checks and in order to maintain their membership, volunteers must pass this check every three years.

Prior to becoming a Youth Leader our volunteers are required to complete a number of courses and programmes, including:

Youth Leader Development

This programme develops the skills and knowledge of volunteers so that they can safely and effectively work with young people. This course teaches volunteers about St John Cymru Wales programmes and ensures that they know how to effectively plan activities and carry out sessions in accordance with our regulations.

Youth Leaders follow development programmes and courses that are governed by St John National Headquarters – this helps to ensure a high standard throughout Wales.

Safeguarding

This course cover a whole range of issues from risk assessments of child related activities to a number of training and awareness initiatives, recognising vulnerable children, combating bullying, online safety and much more.

In addition to the training, volunteers have access to a safeguarding helpline and email support which is staffed by a safeguarding specialist 24 hours a day.

All of our activities are supervised by a minimum of two qualified leaders at all times.

First Aid

All of our Youth Leaders are expected to maintain their first aid training so that they can confidently intervene in a first aid situation. First aid equipment will be to hand during every session.

Youth Leaders receive regular contact with Senior Leaders to ensure that they are supported, aware of any developments and remain in compliance with legislative and organisational requirements. Senior Youth Leaders also make both announced and unannounced visits to clubs to ensure that they are well supported and offering the best experience for young volunteers.

All activities carried out in our clubs are risk assessed and registered with County Leaders to ensure they fully comply with St John Cymru Wales policies.

St John Cymru Wales is open to input from other organisations and government departments. It works closely with other national organisations, benchmarking itself to ensure that it’s standard of youth provision remain relevant and to the highest standard. St John Cymru Wales is a member of a number of umbrella organisations such as The Young Dragons which represents uniformed youth organisations in Wales, the Council for Wales Voluntary Youth Services (CWVYS) and Children in Wales.

St John Cymru Wales does not collect a central subscription in order to keep costs as low as possible for young people and their families. However, some units may collect a small subscription to help cover the costs of materials etc. These subscriptions are often only £1-1.50 per week. St John Cymru Wales recognises that money can often be a barrier to young people taking part in activities and is keen to ensure that this is not the case for our young people. Uniform costs are often covered by our local clubs and where this isn’t the case, financial support can be offered either through local means or through the our Sir Donald Gosling Youth Bursary.

During our joining process we ask for contact details and medical needs; this helps to ensure that our clubs provide suitable support and can make contact with a next of kin if they require advice or in the unlikely event of an incident. During your child’s first lesson, the Youth Leader will clarify the start and finish times with you along with any other requirements.

Leaders are required to record and report all accidents and incidents so that any issues can be addressed to minimise the chances of the same or similar occurrences in the future. St John Cymru Wales shares ‘lessons learnt’ and best practice through weekly updates.

If you have any concerns or further questions you can contact the national youth team on email youth@stjohnwales.org.uk