Scouting for everyone across the northern New Forest.
Youth Shaped Scouting
The most important people in Scouting are the scouts themselves.
From the youngest Beaver scout through to a Scout Network member, Scouts should have a say in how their scouting journey is run.
In recent years, Scouts from across the country have been empowering our young people and encouraging them to speak up and make change. Hampshire have been pioneers in this journey for some years so here are some of the ways in which we listen to our young people:
YouShape activity and award
YouShape gives volunteers lots of ideas to boost youth-led scouting and create inspirational opportunities for our young people.
They give hints and tips to programme ideas so it is a brilliant way to empower Scouts and give them a voice. There are lots of activity ideas to listen to the ideas and how to choose them.
Many sections will ask their members how they want their programme will run. For the youngest sections this may focus on picking which games are played or what activities they enjoyed. Older scouts, such as our Explorers and Network, should take the lead on deciding what they want to do.
This may be done casually during a normal weekly scout activity. It could also be done through a more formal forum such as a Beaver Log Chew or a Troop forum. This will depend on the section.
Youth Commissioners
Hearing the voice of the scouts doesn’t stop at the end of the section meeting. Across the country, hundreds of district and county youth commissioners speak up for all scouts at the highest levels of the district and county.
In New Forest our youth commissioner is Michael Doncom. He speaks up for the young people in the district at the highest levels. Drop him an email at [email protected].
In Hampshire, our youth commissioner is Peter Marcus. He can be contacted on [email protected] and find out what he is doing on twitter @HampshireCYC.
The UK Youth Commissioner speak up for scouts at a national level through speaking up at highest levels. The UK Youth Commissioner is Ollie Wood. Contact him through Facebook and Twitter or you can find out more on the Scouts website.
Youth CouncilandScouts Speak Up!
Hampshire Scouts run a youth council, comprised of two representatives from each district, to feed back ideas to county and UK HQ. Plus they take part in lots of fun activities at their conferences. They’re held throughout the year at locations around the county.
At the moment both representative positions are vacant – if you want to know more then get in touch through Peter above.
Hampshire also run Scouts Speak Up where young people learn how to shout about scouts and speak to the media. It builds your confidence, teach you how to speak to the media and other people about what scouting does. It is run by friendly volunteers as a residential camp with engaging activities and it is a great way to shout about what we do.
