Hey Blog! I have recently moved up from Scouts to Explorers, so in this post I’ll tell you the latest on this subject.
I have told you a lot about Scouts before. However, I have not moved up from one section to another while I have been with you. Now, I have moved up twice and down once – more on that later. If you have not read it, check my post Be Prepared! (4th Feb. 2022) and maybe some of my more recent posts on camps for information on Scouting.
In Scouting, there are several age groups, or sections. The first is Squirrels (4-6), then Beavers (6-8), next Cubs (8-10½), after that Scouts (10½-14), even older is Explorers (14-18), and finally Network (18-25). I joined in Cubs, then moved on to Scouts, and am now in Explorers, after having my last Scout meet a few weeks ago. Luckily, I had got all the requirements done for the first badge I ever wanted in Scouts and the last badge I ever got, the Top One – The Chief Scout’s Gold Award. Explorers however is a little different to Scouts, inasmuch as while there are badges we don’t do them in the meetings and it’s the members, the young people, who plan the activities not the leaders. However, it seems to be going well. I have now been to three explorer meetings. At the first one we played dodgeball for the evening (most fun!); the second consisted of going indoor climbing in Derby (also a lot of fun!!) and the third, last night, was wide games (e.g. capture the flag, sardines) out at the local Scout campsite and recreation ground Drum Hill (yet more fun!!!). I am looking forward learning everyone’s names and doing more activities with the group in the future.
That is the first move up. Now for the second. In the Explorer age category there are three options: Explorers itself, Duke of Edinbugh award (DofE), and Young Leaders. I have decided not to go for DofE at present (though it remains an option for the future) but am doing the other two options. Explorers proper I have just related about, but I have not told you about Young Leaders. This is where Explorers help the adult leaders to plan, prepare and run activities for younger sections. Very luckily, Mum was in contact with our acting Group Scout Leader for 1st Belper and we have been able to negotiate me a Young Leader place at 1st Belper Beavers (the move down).
Doing Young Leaders with Beavers, attending Cubs, Scouts and now Explorers means rather nicely I have been in every single section other than Network, and as I’m not old enough for that anyway I can do that later. Young Leaders is also nice as in that my former Patrol Leader from Scouts is the other Young Leader for the same Beaver group. On Wednesday I went to my Young Leader Meeting, where we did modules G&H of the YL program. This was about planning for sessions with our age groups. I have already decided to focus on the challenge awards, the badges you need for your Chief Scout’s Awards, with my planning; maybe doing the Outdoors Challenge Award first as this ties in with my personal interests and is a good thing to do with very very small young people. I look forward for doing more with both Young Leaders and Explorers, so look out for more info on what I do with them in future!