Scouts (The Scout Association)

Origins: 1907-1914 ''. The Scout section emerged from the ideas of Scouting's founder Robert Baden-Powell for a training scheme for boys based on the skills learned in the army. Before these were published the format was tested at an experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Dorset in August 1907 lasting eight days and attended by 22 boys for a range of class backgrounds in London. Concepts still key to the movement, such as the patrol system, ceremonies and scoutcraft emerged from this camp. The book was a runaway success and was reprinted six times in 1908 alone and was translated into a number of other languages including French, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese and Hebrew. The movement began to develop over the next few years: the first Scout camp at Humshaugh took place in August–September 1908, the Sea Scout branch was formed to provide specialist nautical training in 1909 and badges and tests began to appear from around this time as well with 33 available by 1909. War and peace: 1914-1945 '' showing the world gaining hope after seeing Scouts at the first World Scout Jamboree in 1920. The outbreak of World War I saw the scouts contribute on the home front and through organising welfare facilities on the western front. At home Sea scouts performed cast-watching duties, Scouts acted as messengers and guarding key points on the railway network and worked the land among other tasks. and 1918 saw the launch of Rover Scouts for young adults which they could complete after the Boy Scouts. The first worldwide gathering of Scouts, the 1st World Scout Jamboree, took place in England in 1920 and began a precedent that continues to this day. Equally a separate branch of the section for those with additional needs was created in 1925, the Special Tests Branch, to include others into the movement. In 1941 the rise of air services led to the formal creation of the Air Scout branch that focused on aviation and aeronautical activities. However January 1941 also saw the death of Baden-Powell with Lord Somers becoming Chief Scout. The following year a post-war commission was established to review the movement and which led to the publication of The Road Ahead in September 1945. Post war: 1945-1966 The end of the Second World War had hit the Scout section and the movement as a whole hard with numbers drastically reduced with leaders, Rovers and older Scouts being drafted up for war service. In particular the post-war commission noticed in particular it was difficult to keep older boys in the Scout Troop and The Road Ahead, published in 1945, recommended the creation of a Senior Scout Section with the section officially commencing in October 1946. Scouts over the age of 15 could stay in the Troop, join a Senior Scout Patrol within the Troop, or join a separate Senior Scout Troop which was to consist of at least two Senior Patrols. The end of the war and post-war period also saw a few amendments to the tests and badges first outlined and unchanged since Scouting for Boys in 1908; in January 1944 the tests for Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class scouts were revised, October 1946 saw the revised scheme of proficiency badges published and 1958 saw a refresh of the badge tests required. Scouts during this time took part in a number of high-profile events, in addition to Jamborees, that helped to boost the image of the movement. These included the 1948 Summer Olympics, as markers for the marathon, in support roles for the games and one even carried the banner for Belgium in the opening ceremony as well as the 1951 Festival of Britain and assisting with crowd control and programme selling at the 1953 Coronation of Elizabeth II. These changes were implemented in October 1967, causing a split in the movement, but was considered a success as it led to a growth in members and helped reposition the section as a modern movement. Instead a wider range of interests were included with specific interest, pursuit, service, instructor and collective achievement badges introduced. The formal training scheme that previously consisted of Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class tests was replaced by the Scout Badge, Scout Standard, Advanced Scout Standard and Chief Scout's Award. It was also noted that only 10% of Scouts achieved the First class top award, an additional 20% the Second class test (30% total) with less than half of Scouts able to achieve the beginner tenderfoot test. The seventy fifth anniversary of the Brownsea Island camp was marked in 1982 and deemed 'The Year of the Scout' and marked by a House of Commons reception by the Speaker, series of postage stamps and activities involving the number 75 such as tidying 75 square yards of land or a party of 75 elderly people. Two years later, the training scheme was again revised where the Scout badge, Scout standard, Advanced Scout standard and Chief Scout's Award were replaced with the age-based progressive Scout Award, Pathfinder award, Explorer award and Chief Scout's Award. In February 1990, it was decided in principle that the Association would become fully co-educational, leading to individual Scout Groups being able to decide to accept girls into Scouts and the other sections. This was formally allowed from July 1991 when the Scout Association's Royal Charter was amended. As of January 2020, female Scouts make up 27% of Scouts across the UK. One year before, in London Fashion Week 2001, new uniforms were unveiled for the section which saw a new design teal shirt, navy blue activity trousers and a wider range of optional accessories such as a branded baseball cap and polo shirts. A logo was introduced along with all publications for the section being relaunched to reflect the new programme and wider Scout Association brand and visual identity. The previous challenge awards were discontinued and replaced with a set of eight diamond challenge awards (outdoor, outdoor plus, creative, fitness, global, community, adventure and expedition) covering the six new programme zones. The top award for the section, the Chief Scout's Gold Award, was achieved for completion of the Outdoor challenge, four of the other challenges and a personal challenge. The proficiency badges were renamed and redesigned to circular blue activity badges and could be earned along with the new Staged Activity Badges and the Group Awards (later renamed Partnership Awards) available to all sections under 18 years. The Group awards were a series of three (International friendship, Environment and Faith) that encouraged multiple sections within a group to work together or to work with outside organisations to complete a project or activity. . The long-awaited Centenary of Scouting took place in 2007 and included the centenary of the section itself. Celebrations included the 21st World Scout Jamboree in Essex attended by Prince William and 40,000 young people from 158 countries, a sunrise ceremony on Brownsea Island, commemorative badge, 50p coin and postage stamps and a live stage show called Live 07: The Festival of Scouting. In 2008, the Scout Association re-launched the programme zones so that there were now six zones with common themes for all four under 18 sections. As part of this, a new Promise Challenge award was introduced and the Chief Scout's Gold award changed to make achievement as simple as achieving the six challenges that covered the key areas of the programme and two of three advanced outdoor challenge awards (Outdoor plus, adventure and expedition). In 2014, the Scouting for All strategic plan for the next four years was launched that included an increased focus of community impact, youth voice and inclusion in the programme and which emerged from youth feedback, including from Scouts. Off the back of this, a refresh of the programme was scheduled for 2015 and in April 2014, the Scout Association released two new activity badges and one new staged activity badge which were to be added as part of the refresh. Skills for life: 2015-present In January 2015, the Scout programme received a refresh along with the programmes of all other sections and saw a renewed emphasis on outdoor activities, skills and world activities and the dropping of programme zones and partnership awards. Subsequently, the challenge awards were replaced with nine new hexagonal Challenge awards: Adventure, Outdoor, Expedition, Skills, Creative, World, Personal, Teamwork and Team Leader challenges. In May 2018 the Scouts published their Skills for Life plan to 2023 which included improved tools for leaders, a refresh in the wider Scout visual identity and a promise to review uniforms. == Organisation ==

, 2007. The Scout section is run locally within a Scout group along with the younger Beaver Scout and Cub Scout sections. The section, called a Scout Troop, is run by a volunteer adult leadership team, led by a Scout leader (sometimes abbreviated to SL and occasionally given the nickname 'Skip'), and made up of Assistant Scout Leaders (ASL) who share the same level of training as the Scout Leader, Sectional assistants who volunteer regularly with basic training, Young Leaders, 14-18 year olds who volunteer in the section, and occasional helpers who may be parents assisting as part of a rota. Ever since the experimental camp on Brownsea Island, the Scouts within the troop are separated into groups of approximately 6-8 members called Patrols. They are led by a Patrol Leader and an Assistant Patrol Leader who are normally Scouts who have shown an ability to be responsible and pro-active. The badges and awards achieved by the young people help support this programme and with the re-launch of every section's programme in 2002, was organised into six zones: scoutcraft and adventure, global, community, fit for life, exploring beliefs and attitudes and creative expression of which scoutcraft and adventure was intended to make up half of the activities completed. In 2008 the six zones were updated with themes common to all under-18 sections in Scouting: beliefs & attitudes, community, fitness, creative, global and outdoor & adventure. In 2015, the concept of zones was dropped across the movement with the focus now being on three core areas of outdoor & adventure, world and skills with outdoor & adventure making up half of time spent on the programme. ==Membership==

Scouts is the oldest and second biggest section run by the Scout Association, only behind the younger Cub Scout section. The section has seen persistent growth for the past couple of decades, growing by 20,000 Scouts between 2009 and 2020. Muslims use a wording of the promise similar to that above but with the word God replaced with Allah while Buddhists and Hindus replacing the word God with my Dharma. For subjects of independent Commonwealth countries, foreign nationals and individuals who are stateless the phrase ‘duty to the King’ is replaced by '...to do my duty to the country in which I am now living.' ==Awards==

Continuing with tradition dating back to 1909 and in common with other sections in Scouting, Scouts earn badges that are sewn onto their uniform to recognise and represent achievements during their time in the troop. the Joining In Award recognises participation in the programme in yearly chunks and the Moving-On Award recognises continuation of the journey through Scouts: a red award may be worn by new Scouts to represent their time as a Cub Scout while a green award is presented to Scouts at the conclusion of their time in Scouts as they are about to join Explorer Scouts. Challenge awards The challenge awards are often completed together by the troop during their normal sessions and cover the range and aims of the programme. The current challenge awards were introduced in 2015 and are hexagonal in shape and navy blue in colour, worn on the chest. The nine awards are the Adventure, Outdoor, Expedition, Skills, Creative, World, Personal, Teamwork and Team Leader challenges. Each Challenge involves undertaking several tasks or taking part in activities related to a particular type of challenge and will involve trying something new, learning a new skill or completing something that is personally challenging to the young person. The Scout Association recognises that young people might not have completed the Challenge programme by the time they move on to Explorers and so they can continue working towards these awards in their first term as an Explorer. These came in five groups: interest (based on hobbies and intended for younger Scouts), pursuit (intended for older Scouts and explored a subject in more detail), service (applying theory and practical to teach skills to others), instructor (intended for older Scouts to prove expertise enough to teach younger Scouts) and collective achievement (gained through working in a patrol). with the most recently added being a Scientist badge in March 2019 and the fundraising and geocaching badges in April 2014. The badges are circular in shape and are navy blue with a red border Staged Activity Badges Staged Activity Badges can be completed by any member of the movement between the age of 6 and 18. They are completed in different stages, so after completing each stage members are awarded the relevant badge and can advance to the next level regardless of their section. Current Staged Activity badges that are available are Air Activities, Community Impact, Digital Citizen, Digital Maker, Emergency Aid, Hikes Away, Musician, Nautical Skills, Navigator, Nights Away, Paddle Sports, Sailing, Snowsports, Swimmer and Time on the Water. The badge's design is a circular blue badges with a purple border, a design adopted in 2002 and with a slight darkening of the blue colour from 2018. ==Visual identity==

Uniform The current Scout uniform consists of a teal shirt or blouse, a neckerchief for the group, navy blue activity trousers or skirt and scout belt. Navy blue shorts, outer jacket, baseball cap and grey fleece can be adopted by a group as official uniform and a navy blue sweatshirt or teal polo shirt can be used for activity wear. However, 45% of Scouts wanted the shirt to revert to the green colour scheme used before so a compromise was reached which resulted in the teal colour in use. The uniform is different for members in Sea Scouts and Air Scouts, instead consisting of a light blue shirt or blouse instead of the teal colour of 'land' members and the addition of a hat; a Seaman's cap for Sea Scouts and a beret for Air Scouts. The uniform is an evolution of the one used between 1967 and 2001, with a green coloured shirt or blouse and mushroom colour trousers used before. That uniform had been introduced following the Advance Party Report of 1966 which recommended a total redesign and modernisation of the uniform, because of "the Boer War appearance of our uniforms" and commenting that the "wearing of shorts by members of the Movement is one of the most damaging aspects of our present public image". Later amendments included the abolition of all uniform headgear except Sea Scout caps and Air Scout berets in 1989. The original uniform for the section was laid out in Scouting for Boys where Baden-Powell recommended a distinctive and practical uniform that was "very like the uniform worn by my men when I commanded the South African Constabulary". This in turn, seems to have been derived from the dress adopted by Baden-Powell in the Second Matabele War of 1896, influenced by his friend and colleague, Frederick Russell Burnham. The original Boy Scout uniform consisted of a khaki shirt and shorts, a neckerchief or "scarf", campaign hat (known as a "B-P hat" in Britain) and a Scout staff. The exact specifications for these items were formalised in 1910. The first Sea Scout uniform was a seaman's cap issued at an experimental camp in Hampshire in August 1909; a navy blue jersey was adopted soon afterwards. The Boy Scout uniform remained largely unchanged for the first 60 years, although the woggle began to replace the knot used to fasten the neckerchief from the early 1920s, Flags In common with other sections of the movement, Scouts have a flag for use to identify the section, in parades or when a member is being invested. It is the same size as those used by the Cub, Explorer and Scout Network sections and is 4 feet by 3 feet and is mounted on a wooden pole with scout fleur-de-lis at the end. The flag is dark green with white lettering, a white scout emblem on a purple circular background in the centre of the flag with the scout motto 'Be Prepared' underneath. Previously the flag lettering and the fleur-de-lis were in yellow against the brighter green background and these colours can still be seen in some sections where they have not needed to update their flag. These colours are also still used in Scotland, with the addition of a St. Andrew's Cross next to the hoist, the name appearing on black on yellow bars and the fleur-de-lis being yellow straight onto the green background. The typeface used for the logo and for headings in Scout publications was a bespoke font called Scout Section, that had a technological and futuristic feel and appeared very square with every character as wide as it was tall, while Frutiger was used for body text in line with the rest of the association. This branding received a refresh in 2012 when the mascots were dropped and the logo preferences were tweaked to prefer a single colour version on documents opposed to the multi-coloured version, normally white or the same teal colour used in the uniform. Additionally the focus of text and images shifted to highlight adventure, fun, and friendship In 2015, the Scout Association updated their visual identity style, including the section brands, to focus on the Scouting fleur-de-lis. As part of this, the new Scout logo was overhauled to a new uppercase 'SCOUTS' teal wordmark in a bold and rounded typeface with a fleur-de-lis added to the logo, located either in the top right of the wordmark or a larger version located directly above the wordmark. The previous Scout Section typeface was dropped and TheSerif was used for headings in line with the rest of the association and Frutiger continued to be used for body text. Scout publications reduced the use of pictures and instead used an artwork style described as exacting, realistic and information driven and often showed illustrations of scouts completing activities. When the Scout Association brand was updated in May 2018, with a new and stylised fleur-de-lis, the Scout section logo was altered to remove the previous fleur-de-lis mark. Publications either continued the use of the previous artwork or used the new image style of the association and the typeface for all documents was updated to use the Google Fonts typeface Nunito Sans. ==Events and Activities==

The Scout programme is flexible to the needs of members. A key part of the programme is Outdoor and Adventurous activities and in addition to camping and other scout craft, adventurous activities such as hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, sailing, caving, and shooting proving popular with units. As Scouts can become quite proficient in their chosen activities, it is possible for Scouts to gain a personal activity permit as part of the Scouts adventurous activity permit scheme. World Scout Jamboree held in 2007 in the UK. The World Scout Jamboree takes place every four years in countries across the world and the UK sends approximately 4,000 Explorer Scouts from across the country, split into some 40 units with their own leaders and branding. Although Scouts are too young to attend the Jamboree, selection for Jamborees often takes place years ahead of the event so it is highly likely that Scouts begin training and fundraising for the World Scout Jamboree while they are in the Scout section. The purpose of the event is to take part in activities with Scouts from across the world with some 45,000 scouts from 152 countries at the most recent 24th World Scout Jamboree at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, United States. Scout Association events The Scout Association, through their Scout Adventures subsidiary, run a number of national events for members of the Scout section. These are centred on the nationally owned scout centres such as Gilwell Park. Winter Camp is held on a weekend in January at Gilwell Park, North London. The event, hosted for Scouts, Explorers, Guides and Rangers, includes over 70 activities over the course of the weekend that the individuals can take part in during the day. The event has grown from 2,500 attendees in 2010 to 4,000 in 2019. A more recent event is Scarefest which is held on the weekend closest to Halloween at Gilwell Park, North London. Similar to Winter Camp, it is open to Scouts, Explorers, Guides and Rangers and features activities such as climbing, archery and laser games. Damboree Established in 2018, Damboree is a grass-root movement to encourage leaders to apply for a camp site permit to enable Scouts of all ages to camp. Originally established to benefit the Beaver Scout section (hence the name which is a combination of Dam, named for the dams built by Beavers, and jamboree which refers to any large gathering of Scouts) in 2020 the event expanded to include Scouts and their leaders and to encourage as many as possible to gain the permit rather than relying on a small number of people in each group. It is part of the Scout Association, being a Scout Active Support unit of Milton Keynes Scouts, but is not directly controlled by Scouts HQ. While the event is not one specific event, there is a focus weekend planned each year which packs are encouraged to host their camps on. ==See also==