(Extract from RBL Membership Training Policy October 2023) The following courses are considered to be essential learning:
- Branch Treasurers must attend the Treasurer course within three months of taking up the role.
- Branch Chairs must attend the Branch Management course within three months of taking up the role.
- Branch Secretaries should attend the Branch Management course but within three months of taking up the role they must complete the Data Protection module of it, available as standalone training on the Training Portal (see below).
The County Training Officer (CTO) is Steve Thatcher who is available via Northamptonshire.CTO@rbl.community
All Branch Officers and Committee members should attend training sessions commensurate to their role in the branch. A useful guide to Branch (and County) Roles including the relevant Terms of Reference is:
Branch (and County) Role Descriptions (March 2024)
Training Delivery
The review of training content and delivery by the RBL Learning & Development (L&D) Team is now almost complete and the majority of training courses are available for booking by members - please see Courses Currently Available below.
The new training portal called Discover is now available to all members and all training (with the exception of Standard Bearers) has to be booked using this system.
If branches have members who do not have access to IT facilities and they can't be provided at branch level, then please notify the CTO.
Using Discover
Members create a personal training account on Discover where they select their County and/or branch positions (i.e. Chair, Secretary, Treasurer etc). The system will then provide access to the courses relevant to their role. Once their registration has been confirmed, members can then start to book training. A guide on registration booking courses is available as follows:
It should be noted that training can be on-line (individually done at your own pace), face-to-face (delivered by RBL L&D Team or CTOs in a suitable location) or as a webinar (where you join on-line as a group with other members) or a combination of some or all of these - this is explained in each Course Prospectus (below).
Courses Currently Available
The following prospectus provides details of all course content and other requirements which members should read before registering and booking on Discover:
Full List of Course Prospectus (February 2025)
For a summary of the courses, this guide is available:
Membership Course Offerings (February 2025)
Please note that other on-line courses are being added from time to time.
Locally-Run Courses Available
The following courses are run in Northamptonshire - please note these still have to be booked on Discover:
Branch Management Parts 2 and 3 - 9.30am to 2.00pm now being run on-line using MS Teams:
Saturday 8th March 2025
Saturday 12th April 2025
Saturday 10th May 2025
All those attending the above courses must have completed Part 1 of the Branch Management course on Discover before attending.
BCS Registration and Training
Full details of BCS guidance and policy is now contained on the RBL website and BCS Portal via the following LINK.
MAP & Microsoft 365 Training
Branch officers who have been provided with an rbl.community login and who are competent IT users may wish to use a series of self-teach resources which are available below instead of attending MAP and Microsoft 365 training:
Microsoft 365 and Folders
Downloading a File from MAP
A New Users Guide to MAP (Nov 2024)
Support for RBL website design and maintenance (using Umbraco) is provided by a series of YouTube videos via this link. If required, further support and advice can be be requested by email from Northamptonshire.CTO@rbl.community
Recruitment
The County Chair & Recruitment Officer (CRO) normally carries packs of 10 of each leaflets and some BCS cards when he visits branches.
Any branches which are not due to visit and in need of stock can contact the CRO via the County Chair email (below) or by phone at the number given in every County Newsletter and supplies will either be posted or dropped off.
Branch-centred posters can be prepared for any branch on request; so far these have been made for Northampton, Thrapston & District and Warmington. The localities covered by the branch is normally included on the poster.
The point for us all to remember is that we are all recruitment officers not just the person with the title
CONTACT: Northamptonshire.Chairman@rbl.community for recruitment queries.
Locally delivered training for Branch Recruiting Advisors will commence shortly.
Standard Bearer Training
All Standard Bearer training will be delivered by the County Parade Marshal (CPM). Dates of training are published in the County Newsletter and via the Standard Bearers' WhatsApp group.
All Branch Standard Bearers are required to attend at last one training session each year, plus any other specific event related training session. Furthermore, all Standard Bearers are required to undertake a Risk Assessment (as mandated by the RBL Ceremonial Working Group) on an annual basis as arranged by the CPM.
All queries should be made via Northamptonshire.ParadeMarshal@rbl.community
