Programme

Aim: To provide a fun, high-quality, inclusive programme that’s consistently and safely delivered, and supported by simple digital tools, to create positive outcomes for young people.

Goals

• Scouts and Explorer Top Awards: Increase support for volunteers delivering the Scouts and Explorer programme towards our 2025 target of 40% of Scouts and 10% of Explorers achieving their Top Awards.
• Nights Away: Increase the support for Nights Away across all Sections. Nights Away are the most impactful way to achieve our outcomes.
• Squirrels Growth: Establish 2,000 Squirrel Dreys, reaching 26,000 young people, with 30% of Dreys in areas of deprivation and 10% in Groups with over 10% of participating young people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
• Review our programme for 14–24 year olds.

Our activity finder

Over the past 12 months, there’ve been 1.75 million visits to our activity pages by more than 480,000 users. Our Net Promoter Score for the year is 30, which is classified as good and is a 4 point increase on last year. We now have over 1,700 live activities, including 100 new activities added in the last year, as well as guidance and resources for talking to young people about international crises and wars.

Progress a year on

We continued to increase the support for everyone delivering the Scout and Explorer programme by updating the King’s Scout Award, and some of our resources to better support volunteers to deliver our Young Leaders’ Scheme locally.

In terms of Top Awards, 41.6% of 4–14 year olds are achieving their Top Award, which has increased by 4.4% since last year and exceeds our organisational target of 40%. For 14+ year olds, 5.4% are achieving their Top Award, which has increased by 1% since last year and is working to our organisational target of 10%. This is why we’ve updated our King’s Scout Award and Young Leader Scheme to make it more accessible for young people to achieve.

We started a review of Scout badges, surveying 400 volunteers to get their views. Next, we’ll involve young people to review this part of the programme, to make sure the badges are relevant and accessible to all our young people. We’ve also updated our Disability Badges and the Swimmer Staged Badges.

We’ve encouraged all Scouts, from Squirrels to Network, to do more outdoors activities through Outdoor in 24. In the last year, we’ve granted 15,077 Nights Away and Adventurous Activities Permits to volunteers to support safe adventures. Outdoor in 24 has sold over 3,500 badges and saw 17,000 web page views.

The outbreak of conflict in Israel and Palestine prompted volunteers to ask for improved resources for addressing grief and international crises. In response to members, we produced a guide to discuss conflict using Scout values and resources about Palestinian culture.

While there were significant challenges during the 25th World Scout Jamboree, it created a post-pandemic moment for engaging our movement in an international programme. Those who attended the jamboree experienced a range of activities, making sure Explorer Scouts were able to achieve key badges and elements of their Top Awards. The UK Contingent developed programmes for Squirrel Scouts through to Scout Network members to engage with in the UK. This made it possible for more young people to experience the jamboree’s blend of adventure, Korean culture, personal growth, creativity and global citizenship.

We’ve progressed our ambitions for growing Squirrels. We’ve supported volunteers to open 1,587 Squirrel Dreys, with 25% of those Dreys in areas of deprivation. Through our work with Bookmark, we’ve offered more support to volunteers with storytelling for Squirrels too.

Working with our supporters

Over the last year, we’ve created a range of activities with our supporters, who bring their expertise to enhance our programme.
Here are a few opportunities for young people made possible by our partnerships:

• UK Space Agency – Our partnership reached new heights with 51,401 badges awarded and the recent launch of a Space Activity Badge for Squirrels. We’re reassessing all our Space badges in summer 2024.
• Disney – Storytelling programme resources linking to Frozen and Young Jedi Adventures for Squirrels. 11,117 blanket badges were awarded across the year.
• Gas Distribution Networks – Carbon Monoxide safety is an important topic that’s been creatively supported this year and 12,332 Cubs Home Safety Badges have been awarded. We also launched an e-learning module for volunteers, which was accessed by over 200 volunteers in the first few weeks and we’re continuing to promote it.
• The Rail Industry – Platforms for Change and linked activities that educate young people about staying safe on and near railways and also connects our Scout Groups with their local stations, staff, and volunteers in their communities. 28,928 badges have been awarded and 180 Groups signed up to take part in Platforms for Change, bringing Scouts out into the community.
• Dacia – Supporting the Scouts Adventure Challenge Award. Dacia have helped co-create new activities and contributed a £50,000 grant fund to make outdoor adventure more accessible and affordable. 152 grants for training and permits have been awarded so far across the country, enabling at least 6,250 more young people to access adventure now, and many more in the future.

Reviewing our programme

Around the 20th anniversary of Explorer Scouts (14–18 year olds) and Scout Network (18–24 year olds), we started reviewing our programme for 14–24 year olds to make sure we’re meeting young people’s needs and aspirations. This year, we’ve focused on speaking to more than 3,400 people, including volunteers and young people involved in Scouts, plus 850 young people not in Scouts.

These insights informed our Discovery report, confirming that we’ll want to develop a fun and impactful programme with a flexible delivery approach that enables and facilitates the participation of all young people in the 14–24 provision.

We’re doing this by focusing on the separate needs for 14–18 year olds and over 18 year olds, and developing plans for updating our provision.

What’s next

In the year ahead, we’ll:

• Involve young people and volunteers to review Activity Badges for Scouts and Cubs.
• Design programme resources on healthy relationships.
• Form our Programme Youth Team to help make our activities more youth shaped.
• Develop support for Squirrels volunteers to become more child-led in our delivery and to support Squirrel Dreys to engage with families to help our youngest members get the most from their Scouts experience.
• Develop product ideas with young people aged 14–18 for testing in the piloting phase.