Scouts

Scouts is all about trying new things and having fun! You can expect opportunities to go caving, kayaking, climbing and everything in between. Our programme is built around the outdoors and jam packed with as many adventurous and exciting activities as we can fit into it.

Not only do we offer a safe space for our young people to have fun, but also somewhere for them to learn more #SkillsForLife, like First Aid and Navigation. Our Scouts learn how to team players, leaders and problem solvers without sitting a desk, and most of the time they don’t realise just how much they have learned as a Scout.

Our section is split into Patrols, which are small groups of Scouts, led by a Patrol Leader (PL) and Assistant Patrol Leader (APL). These allow newer Scouts to form closer friendships with a smaller group and older Scouts to take on a leadership role where they can play a greater role in shaping the Troop.

We love rewarding our Scouts for all of the hard work they put in, one way of doing this is through badges and awards.

The highest award you can earn in the Scout section is the Chief Scout’s Gold Award. We encourage all of our Scouts to complete the Gold Award before they move onto Explorers, and provide them with the necessary support so that they can.

You can find a poster with all of the Scout badges you can earn here. They are also listed on the Scouts website scouts.org.uk/scouts/awards and scouts.org.uk/scouts/activity-badges along with the list of requirements to achieve them.

We will work towards lots of badges in our weekly meetings and at camps and other activities, but we also encourage Scouts to work on their badges at home. All we ask is for them to provide some form of evidence and we will present them with their badge.

If you’re wondering where all of these badges go, there is a handy diagram you can download here.

Chief Scout’s Gold Award

To achieve the Chief Scout’s Gold Award, you need to have completed six Activity or Staged Activity Badges and all nine of the Challenge Awards. There are also Core Awards and Peer Leadership Stripes which Scouts can earn.

Core Awards

These include the Membership Award which you will receive when you get invested as a Scout and make your promise; it features a fleur de lis, an international symbol worn by Scouts around the world. There are also the Moving On and Joining In Awards which you receive for continuing your Scouting journey.

Peer Leadership Stripes

These are awarded to young people who take on a leadership role within their patrol, as an Assistant Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader or Senior Patrol Leader.

Activity Badges

There are 59 Activity Badges, covering everything from Angling to Writing. We will complete some of these badges at Scouts but they can also be completed at home.

Staged Activity Badges

There are 15 of these badges, which are similar to the Activity Badges, but they have stages with increasing levels of difficulty. You can start working on these as a Beaver and they remain on your uniform until you leave Explorers.

Challenge Awards

There are nine Challenge Awards:

• Adventure
• Creative
• Expedition
• Outdoors
• Personal
• Skills
• Team Leader
• Teamwork
• World

These are more involved and take more time to achieve than the Activity Badges, so we work towards them at Scouts with some additional homework to complete them.

For most meetings, Scouts should wear the teal green shirt or blouse with their badges sewn on neatly. It may be that for certain activities (especially those which are outside or which might get messy) we may ask the Scouts to wear something more appropriate (old clothes or a coat), but the leaders will advise beforehand if this is the case. Scouts will receive their necker when they are invested and should wear it for every meeting.

Uniform can be purchased online from the Scout Store or Amazon. Sometimes parents may choose to pass on an old uniform at a reduced cost or for free, so it’s worth asking.

It may not be the motto anymore, but Scouts should still ‘be prepared’. It’s a good idea to bring things like a waterproof coat or sturdy walking boots for certain activities, or anything else you think might be useful. A separate kit list will be provided when we go camping. You will find many other uniform items on the Scout Store such as belts and hoodies, but these are not compulsory.

For Muslims
In the name of Allah,
the Most Beneficial
and the Most Merciful,
I promise that I will do my best
to do my duty to Allah
and to the King,
to help other people
and to keep the Scout Law.

For Christians, Jews and Sikhs
On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
to do my duty to God
and to the King,
to help other people
and to keep the Scout Law.

For Hindus and Buddhists
On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
to do my duty to my Dharma
and to the King,
to help other people
and to keep the Scout Law.

For humanists, atheists and
those with no defined faith
On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
to uphold our Scout values,
to do my duty to the King,
to help other people
and to keep the Scout Law.

For subjects of independent
Commonwealth countries, foreign
nationals and individuals who are
stateless the following wording can
replace ‘duty to the King’
…to do my duty to the country in which
I am now living.

1. A Scout is to be trusted.
2. A Scout is loyal.
3. A Scout is friendly and considerate.
4. A Scout belongs to the world-wide family of Scouts.
5. A Scout has courage in all difficulties.
6. A Scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property.
7. A Scout has self-respect and respect for others.

The Scout Promise and Law give a distinctive ethos to the practices of our Movement and act as a bond with Scouts in other countries.

Scouts make their Promise when they get invested (officially join the Troop and receive their first badges and necker) but there’s no pressure to learn it off by heart.

The five Scout values are:

• Integrity
• Respect
• Care
• Belief
• Cooperation

These help guide us through our Scouting journey and act as a set of morals which all Scouts should possess.