Current advice for branches and associations on Schools Members

We have opened this category up in the hope of encouraging more beekeepers to go into schools and share in the magic and excitement of our craft.

School members receive the BBKA News Magazine  and FREE entry to Junior Certificates

Bees in the Curriculum is free for everyone

For schools wanting to become a member (non-beekeeping school)

• One school contact to be named under ‘Schools’ membership (same cost as a BBKA Registered member) – using school address and email address.
• If possible a second contact to be added as a Partner member - using school address and email.
  
  

For schools wanting to become a ‘beekeeping school’ (ie keep bees onsite)

• We strongly recommend that there are at least two  additional  beekeepers in case of sickness or absence (but can be more) but only one can be registered as a partner member with BBKA 
• All of the above should have ideally completed introduction courses before keeping bees onsite
• Strongly recommend that they have initial support of an association/branch mentor
  
  

To record this in eR2, the BBKA membership database

• Main contact registered under ‘Schools’ category
• ‘Partner’ member to be listed under same address (these people must be teachers, support staff, parents or governors associated with the school)
• To denote that all members belong to the same school we recommend highlighting this manually in their membership record by marking for both the main school member and the partner member their school name in the first line of the address. In this way the BBKA can easily see which school member the partner is associated with.

Insurance to think about

• Beekeeping activities on school site should be added to the school's existing public liability insurance
• Apiary visits off-school site will need to be covered by  school's insurance

Insurance already in place

• Any registered, partner or junior BBKA member wanting to do talks in-school with an observation hive are already covered by the £10m public and product liability insurance arranged by BBKA for members. Here is our associated schools visit risk assessment for visiting beekeepers

Further Information

As a 'Schools Member' ONE NAMED MEMBER OF STAFF will sign up to your assoc/branch with their school address and school email address to get their BBKA News sent out to them. They get the same rights as a registered member for voting at the ADM and will be the sole named person who can come along to your branch meetings.

We recommend that the school advise their own insurers. We have heard from beekeeping schools that they have not experienced any issues with adding beekeeping to their existing insurance cover.

Bee Diseases Insurance is available, as it is to all members, should they want to add this to their membership.

Not all visiting beekeepers will need DBS checks to go in to do talks, but all schools have different policies on this so please check with the staff. Should you need to have one done the cost is around £25: You must be 16 or over to apply and it usually takes up to 14 days for you to receive your certificate and it will last for 3 years.

To build a bridge between your group and the school we have launched Bees in the curriculum.  There is now free access to everyone - beekeepers and schools, and members of the public.   We hope this resource will help get the children thinking about mini-beasts, bee anatomy, beekeepers and the world around them and wider environment issues in general. And we hope it helps you in inspiring great things in the minds of children.