Beaver Leader Information – Summer 2023

I hope you’re all well and having a great summer so far!

Moving into the Autumn term we have lots planned and things to make you aware of.

If your District doesn’t have an ADC Beavers, I am happy to work alongside you in finding one and supporting them in their role and through appointments. If you think you may be interested in being an Assistant District Commissioner for Beavers please speak with your District Commissioner – it would be great to have you on board the County Beaver Leadership Team!

The role of ADC Beavers is to

• Ensure purpose, method, policies and programme are carried out throughout the Section in the District
• Assist GSLs in the encouragement of all Leaders in the Section to provide a balanced programme
• Co-operate with DC to support all Leaders and Commissioners in matters relating to the Section and its Leaders
• Promote and encourage the Section in the implementation of all policies of The Scout Association, especially the key policies as laid down in Chapter 2 of POR
• Liaise with District Administrators
• Maintain a working relationship with DC, other ADC (Beaver Scouts) and other Commissioners within the District
• Work in partnership with DC in the management of the District and the Section’s programme and activities
• Maintain contact relevant to the Section age group with in the local community
• Promote the Section’s Scouting to the local Community
• Support the DC in the development of the District

Having an ADC Beavers is helpful and eases communication and planning processes. If you would like any help or support please let me know.

Coming up in Autumn term will be a Beaver Leader planning meeting – hopefully we can tie this in with a leader skills session (if anyone has anything which will be useful, please let me know!) I’m thinking Camp Fire singing or maybe something along those lines!! * If you have a venue which we can use, please let me know!

We also have a Drawing workshop with famous North East illustrator Liz Million, Liz illustrates (draw) and write children’s books she also travels all over the world to talk about her work and to show people how to draw!

It will be on 21st October 2023

There will be 3 sessions over the course of the day. We can have 100 Beavers per session.

This will be at Harvard Lecture Theatre at City Campus – Northumbria University

It will be £3 per Beaver Scout – booking will be open via the County Booking Portal which will open in a couple of weeks. Watch this space!

A few things to look forward to:

• In the Summer I am planning on having our amazing County Beaver Fun Day – we can discuss this at our meeting.
• A trip out to Beamish Museum for Northumberland County Beavers.

A few notices from UK Scouts for Beaver Leaders:

• Working with parents and carers. No two young people are the same, which makes it important to make reasonable adjustments to help all young people take part in Scouts. Where young people might need more support, it’s best to have early, open and transparent conversations with parents and carers. This should be built around care, trust and honesty, with conversations being revisited and plans reviewed when needed. We have online guidance to help you with these conversations, with suggested topics and questions.
• Prepare for a new Scouts term. As a new term approaches, we should make sure our programmes are safe and enjoyable. Reviewing your risk assessments and developing new ones for activities you’ve not done before is the best way to understand how you’ll manage risk. We have guidance for risk assessments to help, along with examples for a variety of activities. A new term is also the perfect time to review the information you hold for your members. This should include their medical and emergency contact information. You may also want to remind members and their parents/carers of what acceptable behaviour is when they return.
• Become good digital citizens this autumn. Developed with our friends at Nominet, the Digital Citizen Staged Badges are made to help give Scouts the skills and knowledge to be positive, active citizens both online and offline. They’re great to work towards when the evenings get darker.
• Asking the big questions. We have created some thought-provoking activities alongside The Royal Institute of Philosophy to encourage young people to explore things with a more open and inquisitive mind.
• Train the Trainer events. Our friends at Raspberry Pi want to help volunteers feel confident in delivering the Digital Maker Staged Activity badge and are running ‘Train the Trainer’ events both in person and virtually. If you’re interested, check out the dates on the Raspberry Pi supporter page.
• Out of this world activities. Did you know we’ve worked with The UK Space Agency to create some inspirational spaced themed activities? Check out them out here and work towards getting the Space Activity badge.
• Keeping safe on the railways. We’ve worked with the Rail Industry to come up with some brand new and exciting activities to learn more about keeping safe on and around the railway.
• Learn to play tennis this summer. Teach your Beavers how to play tennis with our fantastic partnership with LTA. Check out the fun and active activities and training opportunities available.
• Try new activities on a fun day out. Did you know that you can take part in lots of fun activities while you visit our friends at Gulliver’s Theme Parks? Activities include climbing, caving and pedal carts, check them out now!