What is Scouts?
Who should join?
Anyone who wants to get more out of life than the average 11-18 year old!
Scouts is not for everyone – it requires commitment, hard work and social sacrifices. However, if you would like to do more with your life, experience fun and adventure, be part of a family of 30 million young people who are changing the world for the better, learn how to lead yourself and others or stand a better chance of making a success of your future, then Scouts is for you.
How does Scouts work?
Scouts meet once a week on a Friday evening from 19h30 to 21h30. Every Scout in the Troop is a member of a patrol. Each patrol is made up of around 6-8 scouts of various ages and is led by a patrol leader - we have 6 patrols at 2nds (5 boy and 1 girl patrol). Patrols are encouraged to organise their own activities like hikes, camps. The six patrol leaders form a committee that make all the decisions on how the Scout troop is run and what activities get included on the term programme. The adult leaders are just there to implement the programme, make sure no one breaks their neck and do all the boring behind-the-scenes admin work.
There is the badge advancement system which scouts follow at their own pace, with senior patrol members encouraged to assist junior scouts by training and evaluating them. There are advancement badges, which can be likened to Grades at school (though they don’t follow an annual cycle) and interest badges which can be likened to subjects (though they cover many more areas of interest). A number of interest badge courses are run at Provincial training venues like the Hawequas Scout Farm in Wellington, The Sandvlei Sea Scout base or Appleton on Signal Hill. The ultimate goal for many Scouts is to achieve the Springbok Scout badge, although many scouts are happy to enjoy the journey and all the other benefits that come with being a scout.
Scouts from different troops test their skills against each other at a number of Provincial competitions. There are also a number of National and Provincial events throughout the year that Scouts are able to attend. Once every four years, Scouts from around the world gather for the World Scout Jamboree hosted by a different country every year.
What activities do Scouts do?
Apart from the normal Friday night meetings, our Scouts troop also do overnight hikes, weekend camps, one five day summer camp per year, a range of other outdoor adventure activities and community service projects.
Why do Scouts learn the things they do?
Scouts learn skills that help them to become better citizens and to more fully develop their potential. Many of these skills follow central themes and become progressively more advanced as the scout progresses. From the outside it is not always easy to see the purpose behind some of these skills.
Let’s take tying knots as an example. A junior scout will be required to learn how to tie many different kinds of knots, although this develops memory, dexterity and spatial awareness, one could rightly ask, “What’s the point of tying knots when one can just cable ties things together these days?” Well, older scouts start using their knowledge of knots to build structures out of wooden staves to solve a challenging scenario that has been put to their patrol (team). This can be likened to learning how to correctly use your intellectual resources to solve a problem in the work place. Older scouts also teach these knots to younger scouts and thus learn how to become good mentors and coaches. Having these simple knotting skills in place allows scout leaders to create challenging scenarios that develop a patrols planning and leadership abilities in fun and exciting ways. Senior scouts go on the use their knowledge of knots to construct massive pioneering structures out of heavy poles, the planning and execution of which requires high-level project management skills.
From this example one can see how, by having some basic knowledge and skills in place, one can place scouts in challenging situations that stimulate the development of other more complex skills such as: planning, leadership, resourcefulness, commitment and teamwork. Take a moment to think about how each of the following typical Scouting skills can also be used in this way. Mapping and navigation; First aid and emergency response; Camping; Cooking and Community service.
Anyone who wants to get more out of life than the average 11-18 year old!
Scouts is not for everyone – it requires commitment, hard work and social sacrifices. However, if you would like to do more with your life, experience fun and adventure, be part of a family of 30 million young people who are changing the world for the better, learn how to lead yourself and others or stand a better chance of making a success of your future, then Scouts is for you.
How does Scouts work?
Scouts meet once a week on a Friday evening from 19h30 to 21h30. Every Scout in the Troop is a member of a patrol. Each patrol is made up of around 6-8 scouts of various ages and is led by a patrol leader - we have 6 patrols at 2nds (5 boy and 1 girl patrol). Patrols are encouraged to organise their own activities like hikes, camps. The six patrol leaders form a committee that make all the decisions on how the Scout troop is run and what activities get included on the term programme. The adult leaders are just there to implement the programme, make sure no one breaks their neck and do all the boring behind-the-scenes admin work.
There is the badge advancement system which scouts follow at their own pace, with senior patrol members encouraged to assist junior scouts by training and evaluating them. There are advancement badges, which can be likened to Grades at school (though they don’t follow an annual cycle) and interest badges which can be likened to subjects (though they cover many more areas of interest). A number of interest badge courses are run at Provincial training venues like the Hawequas Scout Farm in Wellington, The Sandvlei Sea Scout base or Appleton on Signal Hill. The ultimate goal for many Scouts is to achieve the Springbok Scout badge, although many scouts are happy to enjoy the journey and all the other benefits that come with being a scout.
Scouts from different troops test their skills against each other at a number of Provincial competitions. There are also a number of National and Provincial events throughout the year that Scouts are able to attend. Once every four years, Scouts from around the world gather for the World Scout Jamboree hosted by a different country every year.
What activities do Scouts do?
Apart from the normal Friday night meetings, our Scouts troop also do overnight hikes, weekend camps, one five day summer camp per year, a range of other outdoor adventure activities and community service projects.
Why do Scouts learn the things they do?
Scouts learn skills that help them to become better citizens and to more fully develop their potential. Many of these skills follow central themes and become progressively more advanced as the scout progresses. From the outside it is not always easy to see the purpose behind some of these skills.
Let’s take tying knots as an example. A junior scout will be required to learn how to tie many different kinds of knots, although this develops memory, dexterity and spatial awareness, one could rightly ask, “What’s the point of tying knots when one can just cable ties things together these days?” Well, older scouts start using their knowledge of knots to build structures out of wooden staves to solve a challenging scenario that has been put to their patrol (team). This can be likened to learning how to correctly use your intellectual resources to solve a problem in the work place. Older scouts also teach these knots to younger scouts and thus learn how to become good mentors and coaches. Having these simple knotting skills in place allows scout leaders to create challenging scenarios that develop a patrols planning and leadership abilities in fun and exciting ways. Senior scouts go on the use their knowledge of knots to construct massive pioneering structures out of heavy poles, the planning and execution of which requires high-level project management skills.
From this example one can see how, by having some basic knowledge and skills in place, one can place scouts in challenging situations that stimulate the development of other more complex skills such as: planning, leadership, resourcefulness, commitment and teamwork. Take a moment to think about how each of the following typical Scouting skills can also be used in this way. Mapping and navigation; First aid and emergency response; Camping; Cooking and Community service.