Our Beaver colony meets on Friday evenings 6:30pm to 7:30pm in term time for fun activities, games and visits. The meeting place is Southwater Infant Academy, although we try to be out and about as much as possible. The age range for Beavers is 6 years to 8 years.
Since Beaver Scouts became a part of The Scout Association in 1986, it has been one of the quickest-growing Sections. It currently has somewhere in the region of 100,000 members in 7,000 Colonies! The Beaver Scout Colony tends to meet weekly for about an hour, but they will also have the chance to go on a residential experience every year, and there might also be day trips away. We are part of the 1st Southwater Sea Scouts. We are a land-based Sea Scout Group formed in 1992 to bring waterborne scouting to Southwater.
Who is Beaver Scouting for?
Beaver Scouting is open to young people between six and eight who want to join and can make the Beaver Scout Promise.
Scouting differs from many organisations in requiring its Members to make a Promise. The wording for Beaver Scouts is more straightforward than that of the Scout Promise.
“I promise to do my best and to be kind and helpful and to love God.”
The Beaver Scout Promise for members who are Christian.
This Award helps the young person understand their commitment when they make the Promise and become a Member of the Movement. It covers the history, traditions and practices of Scouting.
Every section has the same motto:
Be Prepared
The Scout Motto
Programme Zones
The following are the six Programme Zones for Beaver Scouts. As part of the Balanced Programme, they will take part in activities from all the zones regularly:
Beliefs and attitudes
Community
Creative
Fitness
Global
Outdoor and adventure
Joining In Awards
The Joining In Awards recognise a commitment to Scouting. They celebrate Beaver Scouts participating in a Balanced Programme over time. They are awarded on the anniversary of the young person joining Scouting.
Challenges
The Challenge Badges complement the Balanced Programme. These have been developed to extend Beaver Scouts’ skills and experience in a particular area. There are six Challenges in the Beaver Scout Section:
Activity Badges are optional, but they provide an opportunity to reward a young person who has participated in an activity over time. They should raise interest and extend a young person’s skills throughout their time in Scouting. You can find more details on The Scout Association website.
Staged Activity Badges
These badges are staged across all the Sections, which gives a young person the opportunity to develop an area of interest throughout their time in Scouting. These badges are replaced as the next level is reached and transferred onto the new uniform when moving to the next section.
Sleepovers give young people their first experience of a night away from home without their parents/carers. They are intended to plant a ‘seed’, which grows as the young person moves through the Sections. Leaders must be specially trained before they may take young people away, so you know they will always be in safe hands. Sleepovers in the Beaver Scout Section will mainly be indoors and will not exceed 24 hours. They provide an excellent opportunity for young people to try out activities that are impossible at the regular Colony Meeting. As you might imagine, the whole atmosphere of living together, even for a short while as a Colony, is extraordinary for the young people involved.
Beaver Scouting… it’s just the start!
While a young person is in Beavers, they will have fun, make friends, and do exciting activities they wouldn’t do anywhere else. But this is just the start! Beavers is the first step in Scouting for future development as individuals and Scouts. It will seem that they have only just started before it will be time to ‘swim up’ to Cubs!
Resources for Beaver Scouts
Beaver Scouts have a special handbook called The Beaver Scout Logbook. It is a Beaver Scout’s guide to the programme and has lots of space for them to colour things in, draw and learn about Scouting.
