Members Information

WAITING LIST

When you register online via ww.thebhy.co.uk/join you’ll join our waiting list. We process new applications every half-term at which point you’ll be sent a new membership pack with a Green Registration Form, a timetable and other useful information to get you started.

1. Parents register their child with The BHY via this Upshot Form.
2. The child is automatically added to the Universal Provision waiting list. This list is checked and processed every half-term, where a place is not yet available the parents will be informed.
3. The Young Persons personal details are checked and assigned a place based on age & location. Their membership will then be accepted onto Upshot and become ‘Active’.
4. New Members will be posted out a New Member Pack consisting of a ‘Welcome to The BHY Letter’, New Member Handbook and current Timetable.
5. Members will then be able to attend sessions immediately from receiving their pack.

MEMBERSHIP EXPIRY

After 12 months from the first day your child attended their membership will expire and they will be unable to attend sessions until we have received updated contact details. Approximately 6 weeks before their membership expires we will send out a Blue Re-Registration Form to fill in and return to continue their membership with The BHY.

Once accepted to The BHY these young people will gain a Full Membership for a minimum of 12 months, pursuant to the criteria below:

1. In most cases, Young People should attend an average of one session per week over a period of one term to retain their place & full membership rights. (i.e., over a 12-week period they must have attended a minimum of 12 sessions).
2. The membership list will be reviewed half-termly, any members who have not attended the minimum number of sessions will be contacted by email and post. They will have 14 days to respond and contact The BHY if they wish to retain their place.
3. If they contact The BHY within the 14-day period, their membership will continue otherwise they will become an ‘Inactive Member’ and will not be able to attend sessions until their membership has been reactivated by re-joining the waiting list and being allocated a place.

BEHAVIOUR AFFECTS YOUR ATTENDANCE…

…and this could affect your chance of participating in trips and residential experiences.

As you would expect from any organisation whose core values are ‘Love, Respect & Discipline’ good behaviour is something we place great emphasis on. In summary: poor behaviour will not be tolerated and will result in sanctions including time-outs, contact with parents and exclusions from sessions, day-trips and residential experiences.

We have great pride in our ability as an organisation to provide interesting and exciting activities for children and young people. We endeavour to meet their expectations, keep them engaged and we always treat them with the utmost respect. In effect, we give them the perfect environment and opportunity in which to behave well.

When any instance of challenging behaviour is being dealt with, a member of The BHY’s Senior Leadership team will always review to ensure that the appropriate investigation and action has been taken.

Parents can expect to be informed for any incident that exceeds a ‘Stage 2’. All behaviour incidents are recorded on our Membership Database. Parents are welcome to request a viewing of their child’s behaviour record at any time.

It would be wonderful to live in a bully-free world. Sadly, this is very unlikely to ever be the case. On that basis, we do not promote and cannot guarantee a Bully Free Zone.

However, we do not tolerate bullying and we will always ensure that every single incident that is reported to us is dealt with appropriately.

All of our staff are told to look-out for any bullying that exists within The Boathouse Youth. All incidents, no matter how small are recorded. This can help us to identify patterns of bullying and act accordingly.

Please remember that if we do not know about it – we can’t deal with it.

Bullying MUST be reported. 

The Boathouse Youth has high-levels of attendance from its members. Day-trips, residential experiences and other special projects will always have a limited number of spaces available, this unfortunately means that some members may miss out.

We decide who gains a place on extra activities based on attendance and behaviour over the previous term of sessions (a period of around 10 weeks attendance).

ACTIVITY CATEGORIES

Our Extra-Activities and Residential’s are split into two main categories, known as CLOSED ENTRY or OPEN ENTRY.

OPEN ENTRY:

All BHY Members are eligible to attend OPEN ENTRY activities offered on a first-come first-served basis. This includes shuttle buses, select day trips (such as BHY Explorers), and other recurrent activities.

CLOSED ENTRY

These trips are offered by letter to the highest attenders from the previous term of sessions. If these initial places are not filled, the places will then be re-issued to the next highest attender, or offered out as Open Entry for all eligible members.

You can contact The BHY for confirmation on the classification of individual trips and activities.

It is really important to us that your child is safe all of the time. We encourage all parents to drop-off and collect their child. However, we also respect that some parents consider their children mature enough to be able to walk to Youth Club and home again unaccompanied.

If your child is in the Infants Section then this is not optional. Your child MUST be dropped-off and collected by an authorised and responsible person who is Aged 16+.

If your child is in the Juniors/Junior Plus Section or Seniors/Senior Plus Section then you must state when completing the registration form what your preference is. If you select that your child is ‘Collected’ then this must be by an authorised and responsible person who is Aged 16+

Please note that if you arrive to take a child in an unsuitable condition, i.e. under the influence of drugs/alcohol – you will NOT be allowed to leave with them until the Police / Social Services have been contacted. 

Keeping Children Safe from Harm – Safeguarding

Our NUMBER ONE priority is that your child is always safe from harm when they are in the care of The BHY. Whilst we pride ourselves in the element of risk we introduce to children’s play we also pride ourselves on our commitment to ensuring it is controlled and well-managed.

Safeguarding encompasses many different elements and we have listed some of the key-elements below. If you have any questions, concerns, comments or ideas for improvement then please make-contact with a member of our Senior Leadership Team who will be delighted to talk with you. We are constantly seeking improvement.

The Boathouse Youth always endeavours to conform to a self-imposed high-standard at all of its provision.

However, occasionally we do fall-short and you may wish to let us know. If we have done something wrong – we are happy to be held to account and will always apologise.

However, we would ask you to consider your tone and the level of publicity you apply to your complaint. The best people to speak to about a problem is us… and please remember the following:

• We are a charity. We are not a public service.
• We provide your child with a vast array of opportunities – usually free of charge.
• Many of our staff are volunteers and paid staff always exceed their contracted weekly hours.
• We always try our best.
• We do what we do because we want to – not because we are obligated to.

If you want to congratulate us or thank us then we would invite you to do so via our Facebook Page.

Privacy Notice

The Boathouse Youth (The BHY) respects your right to privacy. We’ve put in place security measures for your personal data and manage your personal data in accordance with applicable data privacy regulations.

Please note that The Boathouse Youth is the Data Controller of your personal data. The principles set out in this Privacy Notice apply to all instances in which The BHY receives your personal data as a Data Controller for the purposes described in this notice.

In order to easily explain the data which The BHY controls and processes we have created a simple WHO, WHY, WHAT, HOW & WHERE document available below which answers these key questions.

If you have any questions that aren’t answered in our Privacy Policy please do not hesitate to contact our Data Protection Officer using the form below.