Training

Festival organisers and an increasing number of local licensing authorities require us to provide event stewards who are trained to a minimum standard. Because of this requirement, it is now compulsory for all first- time Oxfam stewards and previous Oxfam volunteers who’ve not attended an Oxfam training session over the last four years to attend one this year.

Dates for these sessions are available on the application form. Training is held in various locations around the country. So please book onto a training session when you complete your application if you have not been trained before or last attended training in 2008 or before.

Please make sure you book yourself onto a training session that is before your first festival, and that you can make arrangements to get to and from the training session.

As we have tried to provide training sessions around the country, we hope that you will be able to attend one of the sessions. However we do not expect you to travel an unrealistic distance from your home to attend training. For example, if you live in Manchester and those sessions are full, please don’t book onto the Bristol session, but select the relevant option to say you can’t attend and someone from the Oxfam Festivals Office will get in touch with you about this. Please be aware your stewarding place is at risk until you are confirmed as being booked onto a session.

Supervisor training is a one-day conference this year. It does not cover the basics of stewarding or replace stewards training and you should only enquire about booking this if you are applying to supervise. If you book the supervisor conference, we expect you to have up to date steward training too (which means that you attended steward training in, 2009, 2010 or 2011, or that you have booked onto a session for 2012).

For more information about the Supervisor training please see the questions at the end of this section.

Yes. If you have stewarded before but did not attend training, it is essential as mentioned in the above question for you to train this year so that you are fully equipped for your stewarding role.

Training is only compulsory for new stewards and stewards who have not attended training in the past four years.

If you have up to date training you do not need to book onto a training place this year. We appreciate that some stewards may feel more confident if they are able to attend a refresher course, if this is the case please contact the office on 0300 200 1266 and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

No. Onsite training is valid for four years for any festival. Anyone who attended onsite training last year does not need to train again this year, even if they are applying for a different festival. You will have learned the necessary stewarding skills at this onsite training and from stewarding with us and will pick up the specific information for a different festival at your onsite briefing and from your supervisor.

If you would feel more confident attending a refresher training then please call the office on 0300 200 1266 to discuss your needs, rather than booking onto another training course. The training courses we provide are prioritised for stewards with out of date training and new stewards.

Steward training is compulsory for new stewards and stewards who have not attended training in the past 4 years. If you have booked a place at training and now cannot attend, please see if there is an alternative training session which is convenient for you on our application form: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/Stewarding/apply/apply-main

Click the "apply now" button and use the top tabs to navigate straight to Stage 6 to see training sessions and times. Then email us at stewards@oxfam.org.uk to let us know which session/s you could attend and we will swap you if there are spaces. If the session that is most convenient is showing as full, then please let us know as there may be a cancellation in which case we could squeeze you onto it. In this case, please supply a second choice in case we can't squeeze you into the preferred session.

If you swap to another training session with more than 7 days notice, there will be no admin fee and your stewarding place will not be affected, as we hope to be able to fill your training space with another steward.

If you can't make it to training at the last minute because of illness, or some other unavoidable complication, you must let us know, and if you provide a valid sick note or other documentary evidence we will consider your case regarding charging you an admin fee.

If you have booked a place at training and do not attend without contacting us to let us know, an admin fee of £20 will be applied and we may cancel your stewarding place, as we won’t know if you can be relied upon to turn up to the festival. You must tell us if you cannot go to the session you have booked and we can then discuss alternative arrangements for you.

Yes, this should be possible, please see guidance in the above question with regards to checking what sessions are available on the application form and getting in contact with us.

There is no admin fee if you let us know that you would like to swap to another training session at least seven days before your original session.

Maybe. Try the stewards forum: http://oxfam-stewards.org.uk/forum/ or the Oxfam Festivals Facebook page for other stewards who are looking to liftshare.

No. Every steward must attend a full training session themselves and not rely on a friend or relation to tell them about it.

Only the town is named on the application form. If you book a place at a training session when you apply, you will be contacted around 10 days before your training sessions with specific details of the session you booked onto including the address, directions of how to get there and any other information about the training session.

When you receive this email, please read it carefully and keep it as it contains all the details you need to know about your training session.

No, please do not attend a training session if you have not booked a place, as numbers are limited. We will be in touch 14 days after your application if you have not booked a place at a session and should have.

No, this is not compulsory, but we would very strongly recommend any past or new supervisor to attend this (especially if you did not attend it last year). It will include updates on new ways of working and systems, and also have external speakers representing a range of agencies we work with on site e.g. fire, medics, security. We hope to offer detailed sessions on radio training, management and interpersonal skills and drug awareness amongst other things.

The supervisor conference will be held annually and we encourage everyone who is interested in supervising or has supervised to attend in order to polish and update their supervisory skills. If we have good-quality, trained supervisors onsite this will have positive effects for the rest of our stewarding operation.

If your standard steward training has lapsed - or you have never attended one - you will need to book stewards training,on the application form, as the supervisor conference is an upgrade to that basic knowledge.

To request a place at the conference email stewards@oxfam.org.uk with the subject title of ‘Supervisor Training’.

Not necessarily, it depends on how many people offer to be a supervisor at each festival. If you attend this training and are not needed as a supervisor in 2012, we will note this, and if we need a steward to stand in as a supervisor during a festival where you are stewarding, we may ask you to act as a supervisor.

No. As stated above, the conference is not compulsory; however the decision to appoint you as a supervisor will depend on any other experience you tell us about. You should tick the supervisor box on your application form and make sure you tell us why you think you'd be a good supervisor and what relevant experience for supervising you've had.