What is OSM?

OSM (Online Scout Manager) is used by the 1st Sullington & Storrington Scout Group to handle most administrative tasks. This includes

• Payments
• Information on our Pogramme and Events
• Safely storing your child's information

You can also subscribe to and download our weekly calendar - see below for more details on how to do this.

A critical role OSM provides is storing your childs essential information; contact details, specific health and dietary requirements and certain consents. The primary reason for collecting this information is to ensure the safety and well-being of all children under our care.

Therefore, it is vital that this information is kept up to date. We must be able to reach *someone* in the event of an emergency. Please take a look at the Contact Requirements section below.

How do I get onto OSM?

Upon your child embarking on their scouting journey with us, you will need to click a link within the email sent to you during placement with a section (Beavers/Cubs/Scouts/Explorers), to complete their profile on OSM. This is not part of the waiting list process and must be done once your child has been assigned to a section.

At that point, you must provide us with information about your child. This information is stored securely and can only be accessed by those who need to see the data (such as your child's group leaders). You can find OSM's DPS (data protection statement) and information regarding GDPR compliance here: https://www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk/security.html

What information do I have to provide on OSM?

Contact Information

When you sign up on OSM and in regular intervals (every term), you must ensure that you provide the following contact infromation to us and that the information is kept up to date. It is crucial that we can reach someone in an emergency, this is particularly true for any off-site events and nights away. You must provide:

1. A primary contact - which must include a name, address, telephone number and email address. 
2. A secondary contact - which must include a name, address, telephone number and email address and CAN live at the same address as the primary contact.

We will use primary and secondary contact emails for regular email communications.

You must also provide an emergency contact - which *SHOULD* be at a different registered address to primary and secondary and must also include a name, address, telephone number and email address.

We will use this emergency contact in the case that we cannot get hold of either primary or secondary.

OSM compliance is a condition of membership with the 1st Sullington and Storrington Scout Group.

We realise that not everybody may be able to provide all three contacts, but ask that every reasonable effort is made to complete all fields. If that is an issue, please raise this with your child's group leader. Final decision about your child's membership lies with the Board of Trustees.

Doctor / Surgery Information

The doctor / surgery that your child is registered with. We may require this information in case we need to seek medical attention.

Medical / Allergy / Dietary Information

Any dietary, medical or allergy information. Anything else you would like us to know about your child. 

Consent(s)

Consents, e.g. whether you consent to photographs of your child being used on our Scout Facebook pages and / or newsletters. Consent to record and store specific personal data about you and your child.

How do I keep this information up to date?

OSM will regularly prompt you to ensure that your child's information is still accurate. We kindly ask that you do this at the beginning of each term. Information does go stale quickly.

How do payments work in OSM?

OSM allows you to link one or multiple payment accounts (bank accounts). Event fees & subscription fees will then be taken by direct debit. It is your responsibility to ensure that this set up correctly and up to date. When a payment is due, you will receive an email and need to log onto OSM to trigger the payment unless you have set up a subscription OSM, in which case payment will be taken automatically. Please ensure that all payments are made swiftly. If there any issues, please reach out to your child's group leader.

What about Badges?

OSM is an *AWESOME* way to see the badges that your child has been awarded - but better still - it will also show you the correct badge placement on your child's jumper! There is a 'Uniform' tab that allows you to see exactly where to place those badges that your child has been awarded.

Under 'Badges', you will also be able to complete some badges at home. You will be able to upload evidence, which will be reviewed by your child's group leader. This is a fantastic way to earn additional badges.

Gift Aid Declaration

You can set up and revoke Gift Aid Declarations in OSM. For UK tax payers, setting this up comes at no extra cost to you and allows us to claim Gift Aid on your child's subscription fees - it's greatly appreciated!

Programme / Events (+ Calendar Feeds)

In Programme, you'll see the awesome things we've planned for each week. It would help immensely if you could mark your child as absent if you know that they won't make it to a session.

For Events, this is where you can sign up your child, confirm any event details (this includes downloading attachments for things like camps & sleepovers) and also trigger payment for the events.

Both Programme & Events have a Calendar Feed at the top that will allow you to subscribe to each calendar feed - fantastic if you want to include your child's section schedule on your home calendar, for instance.