1.0 Membership

1.a Age

Membership will be open to any child of any gender, background, or status, aged 8 years to 12 years provided their parent or guardian has paid the necessary fees, signed the necessary waivers, and provided the child has not been previously expelled from the group for behavioral safety or other reasons. If the child has been previously expelled for any reason, re-entry back into the group will be entirely up to the discretion of the leader in consultation with the committee.

1.b Fees.

Fees will be set yearly by Saugeen Nature and will include a meeting charge per child. The total fees for the entire year must be paid prior to the time of joining. Fees for late joiners will be prorated to reflect the value of the remaining portion of the year.

A membership year includes 8 meetings over a period of 9 months, starting in September and ending in May with December being excluded.

1.c Expelled

If a child behaves in a manner that is disruptive to the meeting in general, or acts improperly towards other members, and refuses to correct his or her behavior, that child may be expelled from further club meetings subject to the decision of the leader in consultation with the committee. The child will continue to be supervised, either with the group or separately for the remainder of the meeting in question until the parent or guardian has picked the child up. The Junior Naturalists will refund the unused portion of the fees to the original payer of the fees.

1.d Handling Behavioral Problems

The leader has the sole authority and responsibility in the handling of behavioral problems.

2.0 Supervision:

2.a Types of Supervision at Meetings

Meeting supervision will consist of:

• One Junior Naturalist Leader
• One or more Assistant Leaders
• One or more Authorized Volunteers

The Junior Naturalist Leader has the overall authority for the operation of the meeting. All other supervisors will assist the leader in running the meeting.

In the case of the absence of the leader an assistant leader will be designated by the leader to take his/her place. There must be a minimum of three (3) supervisors per meeting.

2.b The Junior Naturalist Leader

The Junior Naturalist Leader will have the following characteristics and meet the following criteria:

• Will be 19 years of age or older.
• Will have a proven interest in, and knowledge of: nature; the environment and creatures contained within; and the ecology of our area.
• Should have a background of working with children either in a supervisory capacity or as a teacher.
• Will have a Police record search made at club expense, which must prove satisfactory to the Junior Naturalist committee. This search must be repeated on a five (5) year cycle. A new leader may start with an existing search providing it lies within the 5 year cycle, but must have the next search made 5 years from the date of the last search.
• The leader will be responsible for the development and execution of the JN program.
• The leader will be in charge of all JN meetings.

2.c The Assistant Junior Naturalist Leader.

The Assistant Leader will have the following characteristics and meet the following criteria.

• Will be 16 years of age or older.
• Will have a proven interest in the content of the Junior Naturalist Program.
• Will have an interest in the teaching of children.
• Will have a Police record search made at club expense, which must prove satisfactory to the Junior Naturalist Committee. This search must be repeated on a five (5) year cycle. A new Assistant Leader may start with an existing search providing it lies within the 5 year cycle, but must have the next search made 5 years from the date of the last search.

The Assistant Leader will assist the leader in the development and execution of the program, and be prepared to take the place of the leader in his/her absence.

2.d The Authorized Volunteer

The Authorized Volunteer will have the following characteristics and meet the following criteria

• Will be 19 years of age or older
• Will have a Police record search made, which must prove satisfactory to the Junior Naturalist Committee. This search must be repeated on a five (5) year cycle.
• A list of Authorized Volunteers will be maintained to be called upon if needed.
• The Authorized Volunteer will be responsible for the registering of new members
• The Authorized Volunteer will be responsible for maintaining the attendance report (form # A1) and providing general supervisory assistance to the leaders.

2.e Combined Supervision Requirements

At any meeting the following conditions must exist between the supervisors

• Amongst the supervisors present at a meeting there must be someone with basic first aid knowledge.
• Amongst the supervisors present at a meeting there must be someone capable of and responsible for communicating outside the group in emergency situations.

( See 4.b)

3.0 Meetings

3.a Time and Place

• Meetings will commence at 10:00 am and finish at 12:00 noon, unless otherwise arranged.
• Meetings will be conducted at locations as outlined in the program listed on this website
• Meetings will normally be held the third (3rd) Saturday of each month starting in September and ending in May with the exception of December which will not have a meeting. Certain changes will be made to avoid meeting on a holiday.

3.b Arrival and Departure to and from Meetings

It is the responsibility of the child’s parent or guardian to deliver the child to the meeting and to take the child from the meeting.

The parent or guardian may remain and accompany the child during the meeting.

If the parent or guardian assigns the duty of delivering the child to the meeting, or picking the child up from the meeting to someone else, that person MUST have a signed and dated note from the parent or guardian confirming the authorization. This note must indicate the date of the meeting in question, or in the case of a blanket authorization the exact period of the authorization. The person considered to be the parent or guardian is the person who signed the original registration of the child.

3.c Attendance

An attendance will be taken at the start of each meeting, at the mid – point (snack break) of the meeting, and as the child departs the meeting. This attendance will be the responsibility of one of the Approved Volunteers supervising at the meeting who will use form A1 for the purpose.

If at ANY time a child is noted to be missing, the missing child protocol will be immediately initiated. (See 4.e ).

3.d Meeting Supervision

The official supervision at any meeting will consist of:

• The Junior Naturalist Leader
• One or more Assistant Junior Naturalist Leaders
• One or more Authorized Volunteers

Parents and guardians staying for the meeting will have no authority or responsibility over the operation or content of the meeting, but may be asked to assist in some duty or chore by one of the authorized supervisors. This person will be an unauthorized volunteer.

At no time will an unauthorized volunteer or any unauthorized person be allowed to be alone with any child other than their own child or child over which they have guardianship. It is the responsibility of the authorized volunteer to ensure this is not allowed to happen.

There must be a minimum of three (3) authorized supervisors at each meeting regardless of the number of children in attendance

3.e Inappropriate Behavior

It is the sole responsibility of the Junior Naturalist Leader to handle situations of inappropriate behavior. Assistance may be requested by the Leader from any of the authorized supervisors or the child’s parent / guardian only.

4.0 Safety

4.a Supervision Requirements

• All leaders and authorized supervisors must have had a police records search within the last 5 years, and be approved by the Junior Naturalist Committee. A list of all approved leaders and volunteers will be kept in the club meeting book. Any one not on this list is not an authorized supervisor.
• A minimum of three supervisors which will include the leader and assistant leaders must be on duty for any Junior Naturalist meeting.
• One of the supervisors on duty during a meeting must have basic first aid knowledge and be capable to act in an emergency to give initial treatment in case of need. If more than one supervisor has first aid capability, then the leader will designate that supervisor which will have the responsibility for dispensing first aid. The designated supervisor will be made known to all supervisors on duty. The designated supervisor will keep the first aid kit within reasonable accessibility, and carry the kit during field trips.

4.b Communications

The meeting supervision must have the capability of reaching a working phone within five (5) minutes of an incident. In those situations where the group is held in an outdoor location not within reach of a phone within 5 minutes, then one of the supervisors must carry a cell phone or radio, and must ensure he or she has signal capability.

4.c First Aid Kit

The meeting supervision must at all times have immediate access to an adequate first aid kit. This kit will be provided by the Saugeen Field Naturalists, and will be of a portable type which can be carried on field trips. The volunteer supervisor will physically check the kit at the start of each session to ensure it is complete and nothing has been removed and not replaced. At no time will a field trip be conducted without a first aid kit in attendance.

4.d Medical Emergency

In the case of a medical emergency where a child is injured or has become sick, the following actions will take place:

• One or two of the supervisors depending on severity will remain with the injured or sick child, while the remaining supervisors will remove the other children from the scene. One of the supervisors remaining with the child will be the designated first aid supervisor, who will apply first aid to the child if required.
• If the situation is severe enough to require two supervisors the second supervisor will handle communications.
• If the situation requires a 911 call, the supervisor will determine if the child can be moved. If so the child will be moved to a location to facilitate ambulance pick up.
• If the child can not be moved then the supervisor in charge of communications will leave and meet the ambulance to guide the ambulance personnel to the child’s location.

4.e Medical Emergency – Continued

• As soon as the immediate steps are taken to stabilize the child, and if necessary request 911 help, the supervisor will attempt to communicate the situation to the parent or guardian. It is recognized this may not be possible until the parent or guardian arrives to pick the child up at the end of the meeting.
• The OHIP number, the child’s doctor and appropriate contact numbers will be listed in the meeting book.
• A record will be made by the attending supervisors which will include the names of those involved, the times of the various actions taken, the reasons for taking the actions, and the observed reactions of the injured child to the actions. This data will be made available to the ambulance personnel when they pick the child up, but the original will stay in the meeting book.

4.f Lost Child

• If at any point at any meeting or outing a supervisor senses or discovers that a child is missing, all activity shall immediately be stopped and a proper attendance taken and checked with the starting attendance to verify that a child is missing, and who that child is.
• If it is determined that a child is missing, the volunteer will check to see if any unauthorized adults (such as a parent or guardian) is also missing and so note it in the lost child report.(see form L1).
• Two of the supervisors, one of which will be an authorized volunteer, will conduct an immediate search of the immediate area, this search not to extend beyond 10 minutes.
• If the child is not found in the 10 minutes, a call will be made to the area police reporting the situation, after which the search will be continued by the two supervisors.
• The remaining children will be removed from the search area by the remaining supervisors and the meeting continued or some activity conducted until pick-up time
• If an unauthorized adult is also missing the search will include a search for that person, and that person’s name will be submitted to the police.
• If and when the police are notified, attempts to notify the parent or guardian will be made. If they cannot be located prior to pick-up, then they should be met at their arrival to pick up their child, by a supervisor, taken aside and informed of the situation directly before they have a chance to interface with others present.
• When the police arrive, they will take full control of the situation.
• A log of events should be placed into the meeting book. (Form L 1)