Summer Weekly Bulletin

Hope you are all enjoying the glorious weather and much needed rest, maybe squeezing in a few fixtures here and there. If you are on the lookout for appointments all you need to do is set your availability on ‘WTR’ and our Summer Fixtures Sec will appoint.

Tackle Height – Society Training

In May I dropped out a post looking for volunteers to attend the RFU Referee Tackle Height webinar, two of our members stepped forward in John Kelly & Neil Reid-Warrilow. These will be attending a series of webinars to cover how the new tackle height should be delivered out to society members. Once we have this information we will formulate a plan of action for delivery.

In the meantime please feel free to check the England Rugby Tackle Height page or follow RFU Refs on Facebook to see updates / quizzes etc

Important Notice – Safeguarding

This is an important notice regarding safeguarding.

The RFU have a new policy which means that all our active members (active is not just referees, but all members who attend games for the Society such as watchers, coaches etc) MUST complete the RFU Safeguarding Course before an application is made for a DBS. It is therefore important that you do the course especially if your DBS is due to expire during the 23/24 season.

How to Access / Attend the Safeguarding Course

Lewis Courtney has provided the following simple guide:

Log-in to your GMS account and go to ‘Find a Course’, you can then select ‘E-Learning: Introduction to Safeguarding’ and place it in your basket and book the course. The course is free. Once you have booked the course you should get an email sent with a link at the bottom of the confirmation to access the course. Please note this is an online course and does not require attendance in person.

Once you click on the link you will be taken to a slide show where you have to go through each slide taking notes as you go. Please pay attention as there is a quiz at the end which you need to pass. On average it takes 20-30 minutes to complete.

On completion of the course GMS will be updated under the ‘Player Welfare Qualification’ section. We are seeing that this takes up to 3 weeks to appear on GMS but once live you will be emailed a notification. You are unable to apply for a DBS check until this is registered so please allow plenty of time prior to application.

If you could email Rod Blaine once the confirmation has been received – rodjean.blaine@btinternet.com

Rod Blaine, Safeguarding Manager NMSRFR

Interested in Volunteering?

As we approach the new season we are on the lookout for volunteers to help support the society across a range of roles. We fully appreciate that we are all very busy with working, family, refereeing and the general throws of life but if could spare an hour here and there or an afternoon please complete the form below and we can have a chat about possible options. Volunteering roles could be:

• Social media manager for one of our pages
• YMO mentor – attend games to support our YMO program
• Watchers attending games to support our referee development program
• YMO Parent Mentor to help new parents navigate the world of YMO refereeing and share experiences
• Guest blogger
• Plus many more

As mentioned above if you are interested please complete the form below and we can have a chat.