• Introduction
• 10th Harpenden Scout Group
• The Scout Troop
• Looking Wider
• The Scout Section Programme
• The Membership Award
• Participation Awards
• Challenges
• The Chief Scout's Award
• Activity Badges
• Joining the Troop
• Uniform
• Troop Night
• Camps
• Senior Scouts, PLs and APLs
• Explorers
• Discipline and Behaviour
• Parental Involvement
• Contacts

Welcome to 10th Harpenden Scout Troop! You are joining one of the largest and most successful Troops in Harpenden - we hope you will enjoy it! This document is to tell you a bit about Scouting in general, and 10th Harpenden in particular.

The Scout Troop is part of 10th Harpenden Scout Group, which also comprises two Beaver Colonies and two Cub Packs. The Group is one of eight groups in the Harpenden and Wheathampstead district, which also has two Explorer Scout Units and a Scout Network.

Each section in the Group (Beavers, Cubs and Scouts) is led by a team of volunteer leaders and helpers, who are all overseen by the Group Scout Leader (GSL). The GSL position is currently vacant. At the District level, all the Groups are overseen by the District Commissioner.

In addition to the leadership team, the Group also has an executive committee, who are responsible for the Group's finances. Their responsibilities include upkeep and maintenance of the hut, the Group's minibus and all of our camping equipment, as well as fundraising and the collection of subscriptions.

The Scout Troop is currently led by two Assistant Scout Leaders (ASLs). The position of Scout Leader is currently vacant. The ASLs are also assisted by two parent helpers and three Young Leaders, who are Explorer Scouts aged 14 - 18.

The Troop currently has around 45 Scouts, and they are split into Junior Scouts and Senior Scouts. The Troop meets weekly at the hut near Crabtree School.

In addition to the weekly meetings, the Troop also undertakes several camps and other residential events throughout the year, culminating in a week-long Summer Camp at the begining of the Summer holidays. Camping is an integral part of Scouting, and we hope you will want to join in!

The Troop consists of seven Patrols, each led by one of the older Scouts acting as the Patrol Leader (PL). The PLs also take an active part in the running of the Troop, by helping to organise activities and by taking some responsibility for their patrol.

As mentioned, 10th Harpenden is just one of the Groups in Harpenden and Wheathampstead. In turn, the district is one of around 20 in Hertfordshire County, and nationally we all fall under the umbrella of the Scout Association, which has its headquarters at Gilwell Park in Essex. The Scout Association is a member of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, which, as the name suggests, is the worldwide umbrella group for Scouting in nearly every country across the globe.

Within the Scout Troop, we follow the Scout Association's programme for the Scout Section. The programme consists of a variety of 'programme zones' which we should cover when planning our activities, and a variety of methods we should use, in addition to a very large number of badges and awards which Scouts can gain.

The programme zones are: Scoutcraft and Adventure (50%), Community (10%), Creative Expression (10%), Exploring Beliefs and Attitudes (10%), Fit for Life (10%), and Global (10%).
The methods are: Activities Outdoors, Games, Design and Creativity, Visits and Visitors, Service, Technology and new skills, Team-building activities, Activities with others, Themes, and Prayer, Worship and Reflection.

Every Scout in the world wears some form of the World Membership Badge - in the UK (and many other countries), it is a circular purple badge with the Scout arrowhead symbol encircled by a rope tied in a reef knot.

If you are not joining the Scout Troop straight from Cubs, then the World Membership Badge will be the first badge you will get in Scouts. If you were a Cub, you are already a member of the Scout Movement and you will already have a World Membership Badge on your cub uniform. In that case, the first badge you will get is the Moving On award.

The requirements for both badges are the same. To get this badge, you will need to come to Scouts for about 4 weeks, and find out about Scouts, get to know your patrol, and learn a bit about the history and traditions of Scouting. At the end of this time, you will have to take the Scout promise in front of the whole Troop, at your investiture.

Participation Awards show how many years, in total, you have been in Beavers, Cubs or Scouts. Each year, you will get the next participation award. It is important when you come up to Scouts that you let us know when you first joined Beavers or Cubs, so that we can make sure we give you your participation awards at the right time.

The core of the award scheme centres around the eight Challenge badges. They are:

• The Outdoor Challenge
• The Outdoor Plus Challenge
• The Creative Challenge
• The Fitness Challenge
• The Global Challenge
• The Community Challenge
• The Adventure Challenge
• The Expedition Challenge

Challenge awards can be attempted at any time - in fact you can get some of them more than once. The requirements are not rigid - in each case, the leaders will set the exact challenge that you need to complete to get the award. In most cases, you will need to do some training or preparation before attempting the challenge.

The Chief Scout's Gold Award is the highest award you can get in Scouts. To attain it, you must complete the Outdoor Challenge, 4 of the other Challenge badges, and a further personal challenge that will be set by the leaders.

In addition to the core Challenge Badges, there are also 70 special-interest activity badges, from camp cook to circus skills, artist to dinghy sailor. You can attempt any of these any time you like while you are in Scouts.

Before you are truly a member of the Scout Troop, you must be invested. This is an important occasion when you will make the Scout Promise - this is the same promise that every Scout, Explorer and adult takes when they join the Scout Movement.
The promise is:

“On my honour, I promise that I will do my best
to do my duty to God and to the Queen,
to help other people,
and to keep the Scout Law.”

Before you are invested, you will also need to buy your Scout uniform. We also recommend you buy a copy of the 'Scout Matrix', which is the handbook for Scouts. It contains lots of useful information about Scouting, in addition to the requirements for all the main badges and awards.

Scouting is a uniformed organisation, and as such, Scouts are expected to arrive and leave in full uniform each week.
Full uniform consists of:

• Scout Activity Trousers
• Scout Belt and Buckle
• Scout shirt
• 10th Harpenden Scarf
• Scout woggle

All these items must be official uniform - the trousers, belt buckle, shirt and woggle all have the 'Scouts' logo on them.

A diagram showing the position of badges on uniform can be downloaded here.

Uniforms are available from:

• Harpenden Scout shop.
• St Albans Scout shop.
• Online from Outdoors.co.uk (the trading arm of the Scout Association).

Our regular Troop night takes place on a weekday evening. The hut is open at least ten minutes before flagbreak. Scouts should arrive before flagbreak to ensure we can start the meeting promptly. If you are late, please wait by the front door until flagbreak is finished.

After flagbreak, there will be a uniform inspection, after which we normally start the evening with a game before spending a short time in 'workgroups'. The workgroups are run in patrols, led by the PL and APL, and are opportunity for the Scouts to learn skills or discuss issues, which may lead them to working for a particular award. The workgroups are run on a particular theme for a period of several weeks at a time, for example Community and Local Knowledge, Health and Fitness, Camp Skills, etc.

After the workgroups, we move on to the main activity of the evening. We try to run a vary wide range of activities, from patrol challenges, guest speakers, wide games, cooking, outings, etc.

Towards the end of the evening, notices will be given out, and the Junior Scouts will then be dismissed. We run a tuck shop after this selling sweets and drinks (and free tuck is often given as prizes in competitions).

The Senior Scouts stay on for an additional time after the Juniors have left. This time is used to further their skills and knowledge, and to go through any badge work they would like to do. We also run several extra camps and activities for the Senior Scouts, some of which they organise themselves, which are planned during this time. There is normally time for another game before they leave.

Of course, sometimes the activity for a particular week cannot follow this format, especially if we are going to be away from the hut. We will let you know at the begining of each term which meetings will be at a different time or place to normal, and in each case the details will be handed out a week or two before. If you miss a week and don't get a letter, make sure you find out from a friend or from one of the leaders what is going on!

We normally have four main camps during the year. If you have been camping with Cubs, you will find Scout camp is a little different. The Scouts camp in patrols, and each patrol will put up, take down, and look after their own tents and equipment during the camp. The patrols also cook their own meals, and the leaders eat with each patrol in rotation. Most of the cooking is done on wood fires.

This may all sound a little daunting to first-time Scout campers, but you should not be concerned. The older and more experienced Scouts in the patrol do a very good job of looking after the younger Scouts and passing on the skills they have learnt. There is, of course, a lot of work to do, but each patrol is required to draw up a rota in advance of the camp to ensure the work is shared out fairly.

The first camp of the year, Spring Camp, takes place at the beginning of May. We normally use one of the local Scout campsites with a good selection of activties and facilities on site, and try to pack in as many activities as we can, such as climbing, abseiling, rifle shooting, archery, potholing, canoeing, rafting, pedal karts, campfire, challenges, etc.

The second camp, which takes place in the middle of June, is for Junior Scouts only. The Senior Scouts organise their own camp. Juniors' Camp again takes place at a local site, although it is normally a bit more relaxed than Spring Camp, and allows us to spend a bit more time developing the Scouts' camping skills and experience.

The highlight of the year is undoubtedly Summer Camp, which is a week-long camp at the start of the Summer holidays. For Summer Camp, we generally go further afield - in recent years we have been to the New Forest, the Forest of Dean and the Peak District - and stay on more basic sites.

On Summer Camp, we try to make the activities slightly more adventurous than on the other camps, for example, we will go climbing on real rockface rather than on a climbing wall, or canoeing on a river or big lake rather than a campsite pond. Other activities might include hiking, rifle shooting or archery, campfire, caving, etc.

The last camp of the year is our annual cycling weekend in the New Forest in October. This is not really a camp, as we stay in a very well-equiped building at a Scout campsite in the middle of the New Forest. This is a great area for off-road cycling, with many miles of gravel tracks, and a few streams and rivers which can be forded.

In addition to the four camps mentioned above, we also run a number of other camps and events, especially for the Senior Scouts. In the past, these have included Green Beret (a county-wide competition run by Hertfordshire Scouts), Gilwell Winter Camp (camping at the beginning of January), a joint incident hike with the older cubs, night hikes, Master-at-Arms course, and a walking weekend in the Black Mountains.

Before all camps, you will receive a 'Permission to Camp' form. This gives us permission to take your son on camp, and also provides a mechanism for you to tell us about any medical or dietary issues which might affect the camp. This information is of course kept strictly confidential.

If rifle shooting is one of the activities on camp, you will also receive a permission to shoot form. Under Scout Association rules, we must obtain explicit parental permission each time we undertake shooting activities - in other words, you must sign a separate form each time.

It makes life much easier for the leaders organising camps if forms and payments are returned on time - either at Scouts, or by post. Please could you make every effort to return forms and monies by the dates they asked for.

Scouts normally move up from Juniors to Seniors when they are around 12.5. However, factors other than age are also taken into account, such as their experience, maturity, leadership skills, etc.

When it comes to selecting Patrol Leaders and their assistants, these factors are even more important. The current PLs are always involved in selecting new PLs and APLs, although the leaders retain the final say.

The next section after Scouts is called Explorers. Scouts may move on to Explorers at any age between 13.5 and 15, although in practice we find that most choose to move on when they are around 14.5. The upper age for Explorers is 18, after which they move on to the Scout Network.

The Explorer Scout unit in Harpenden meets weekly, in their building which is adjacent to the 10th Harpenden hut. More information about the Harpenden Explorer Scout unit can be obtained from the Explorer Scout Leader. In addition to the unit in Harpenden, there is also an Explorer Scout unit in Wheathampstead.

There is also another option open to Scouts when they leave, instead of, or as well as, joining the Explorer Unit: they can become a Young Leader in Beavers, Cubs or Scouts. Young Leaders are still technically Explorers, but rather than (or as well as) attending weekly Explorer unit meetings, they help with the running of one of the younger sections. Young people can become a Young Leader in Beavers or Cubs immediately when they leave Scouts, but must wait at least 6 months after leaving before they can be a Young Leader in Scouts.

At Scouts, we expect a certain level of behaviour. We are not a school - we recognise that Scouts come to enjoy themselves and have fun (so do we!). Nor are we army cadets - we do not expect absolute obedience and discipline with draconian punishments.

However, in order to ensure everyone can enjoy themselves, a certain level of discipline is necessary - for example, being quiet during flagbreak, and listening when a leader or someone else is talking. Many of our games and activities require everyone to play fairly if they are to work and be enjoyable. With such a large Troop, it is important that we do not allow a few Scouts to disrupt things for everyone else.

If we feel that a particular individual's behaviour is unacceptable, we will take the following steps:

• In the first instance, we will speak individually to the Scout concerned. We will also speak to their parents after the meeting, or by phone.
• If the behaviour does not subsequently improve, we will then write to their parents to explain the situation.
• If after that, the behaviour is still unacceptable, we will have no choice but to exclude the individual from Scouts. This decision would be made by the leaders in consultation with the GSL.

Running a large and successful Scout Group takes a lot of work, and it couldn't be done with the help and support of parents. There are many ways you can help, so every family should be able to find something that will fit with their skills and time commitments.

There are two areas where help is needed: firstly in the leadership team, directly involved with providing Scouting for young people; and secondly, in supporting roles - for example, fundraising, administration and maintenance of the hut. Both areas are equally important - we couldn't operate without leaders, or without a hut to meet in!

Within the leadership team, the most direct way to help is to become involved with one of the sections and help regularly throughout the year at Beavers, Cubs or Scouts. You don't have to help in the same section that your son is in, if you feel you are more suited to a different age group, and no experience is required. A regular comitment doesn't necessarily mean you have to turn up every week - if you feel you only have time to help out once a month, that is fine. However, it will help the leaders running the section if they know in advance which weeks you can help.

Another possibility which also involves helping directly with a section is to help out on camp. There is always a lot to do on camp, so extra pairs of hands are always appreciated - again, no previous experience is required. If you can't come to the whole camp, you might be able to help by driving a lorry or minibus to/from the camp, or by helping with loading and unloading of equipment at the Group stores at the begining or end of camp.

There is also one role in the leadership team which is not directly involved in running a section: the Group Scout Leader (GSL). The GSL's role is to manage the other leaders and adults, and to do some adminisatration tasks such as completing the annual census. There is no regular time commitment, but regular contact with all the section leaders is of course vital to the role.

If you would rather not have direct contact with young people, there are still many ways to help. The Group Committee, which is responsible for the Group's assets and finances, is always on the lookout for more volunteers - this might be to fill a specific named post, for example treasurer or secretary, or just to sit on the committee and help with organising and running fundraising events.

There are also specific roles which are not committee posts, for example, to look after hut bookings, marquee hire, or bookings for the Group minibus, or to be responsible for collection of subscriptions or maintenance of the Group's camping equipment. In addition, help is often needed at fundraising events, or to erect and take down the marquee when we hire it out.

There is also a lot of maintenance work needed every so often at the hut, for example, small electrical or plumbing jobs, painting and decorating, or weekly cleaning. If parents are willing to help with these tasks, that saves the Group from having to pay to have them done commercially.