Reaching more young people

From the outside all looks calm, but inside, a school in Blackburn is bursting with noise and energy.

Young people are arriving for Scouts, picking up spare neckers, handing in forms, and sitting in a (fairly) neat line. They’re much smaller than the rest of their group, though, and they’re wearing bright purple. They’re not lost (and it’s not a well-coordinated uniform rebellion) – One Voice Scout Group is one of 40 early years pilots trying out Scouts with four and five year olds.

The pilots are putting the idea of Scouts for early years to the test to find out what it could look like, what impact it may have on existing groups and volunteers, and its potential to capture the imaginations of people who aren’t (yet) part of Scouts.

They focus on areas that are underrepresented in Scouts, exploring whether early years Scouts helps us extend into harder to reach communities and get the adults there on board, too. Like any good researchers, we’re making the most of the opportunity to try out a few different methods of delivery. In Blackburn, One Voice Scout Group is among the lucky few chosen to host a Scout-led pilot.

‘We applied because we thought it could be an extra offering that could bring so much to our community,’ Nisbah Hussain, Group Scout Leader, explains. The adults in the group (some of whom work in early years settings) had noticed that young people ‘seemed to be further behind in all sorts of skills,’ including speech, dexterity, and even gross motor skills. ‘I know the benefits Scouts can have,’ Nisbah continues, ‘especially in a community from a more disadvantaged area, and I thought an early years pilot could make a massive difference’.

Routine manoeuvres

Once Nisbah’s welcomed everyone, the corridors spring to life. The four and five year olds know exactly what to do when they reach the library: put their coats away, sign in by finding their name badges, and gather in a circle. Once everyone’s settled, Tahseen and Sana (the adult volunteers, also known as Snowflake and Lightning) start the welcome song, and everyone (even the quietest of young people) takes it in turns to sing their name.

Routines like this are crucial for young children. They help them settle and create a safe, familiar space for them to challenge themselves.

Each meeting is crafted around the same predictable structure so young people can focus on learning and play, without worrying about what might happen next.

Once everyone’s settled and they’ve remembered last week’s activity, it’s time for a story. This week, they’re reading My Dream For Every Child by Michelle Nkamankeng, an 11 year old from South Africa. Beginning every meeting with a short story sets the scene and helps young people to engage, while boosting their language development and general understanding of the world.

‘What do you think every child should have?’ Tahseen asks. The answers range from practical (‘beds to sleep in’ and ‘food’) to the slightly less tangible (‘family’ and ‘dreams’).

With the help of an animation by Unicef, Tahseen and Sana explain the concept of human rights to the four and five year olds: ‘They’re the things children need to be happy and healthy.’

Onwards and upwards

Things don’t stay still for long as everyone begins to decorate strips of paper to represent rights. Some of the children practise their letters, and everyone gets to release their creativity.

A sunshine and flowers represent the right to play (and the idea that everyone should be able to go outdoors), woolly jumpers remind everyone of the right to warm clothes, and ice creams show the right to food (and, obviously, the right to freedom of thought when debating the best flavours).

The four and five year olds are keen to show the adults what they’ve drawn, and aren’t shy about sharing their ideas. ‘When we started, they were so quiet and withdrawn,’ Tahseen laughs. ‘They’re so different now’.

Before long, ‘join those to that’ rings out around the room as the children transform their works of art into a giant paper chain. Then it’s time to tidy up and, again, a predictable routine makes the whole thing painless. Everyone knows what needs to happen, and it’s also a handy sign that the session is nearly over – though no one’s going home until the all-important stickers are awarded.

The adults hand out log books, and the young people proudly stick a sticker under ‘Understanding our rights’.

Finally, it’s time to award a ‘star of the week’ who will get the privilege of choosing how to say goodbye to everyone. This week’s star opts for a high five; other popular choices have included fist bumps and waves.

When a plan comes together

None of the carefully crafted programme happened by accident. Scouts worked with We Are Futures (an education and youth engagement agency) and the charity Action for Children to make sure it aligned with England’s compulsory standards for people working with children from birth to five.

As a result, it’s all about encouraging young people to play, explore, give things a go and pick themselves back up when things get tough. Sound familiar? It’s similar to your average Scouts’ programme, which encourages young people to develop skills like problem-solving, respecting others, and valuing the outdoors. Most of all, it’s a lot of fun.

One Voice’s pilot has made a massive difference. ‘One of the younger ones doesn’t talk much at home – he was really struggling to interact with others,’ Nisbah tells us. ‘Now he comes to Scouts – he might not be the chattiest boy there – but he does everything.’

The young people’s parents are full of stories about the changes they’ve seen. ‘I wanted something that would push her out of her comfort zone a bit,’ one mum explains. ‘She was super shy; she’d get so anxious about new situations. I don’t know what it is about here – I credit the leaders – but her confidence has grown.’

‘Mine doesn’t stop talking about it!’ another explains. ‘She wants to do it all at home – whatever they’ve been making, or doing, or practising. And the nature walks… when they went out in the dark with torches, she loved it. I’d never have thought of that! I even do this at home,’ she laughs, as she puts her hand in the air, ‘to make them shush.’

Taking it with you

This family’s not the only one taking Scouts home. Homework gets a bad rep but the programme’s full of linked ideas that are much more fun.

They’re designed to help parents and carers develop the home learning environment and create connections between a young person’s learning and the adults who look after them. We’re also hoping that by introducing parents and carers to Scout activities (and showing them that they’re fun and not too scary), we’ll encourage more to help out as volunteers.

Nisbah’s a positive force, always on the lookout for solutions. The biggest challenge? Restricting the numbers. They’re not taking any new members as the pilots have an end date, but, ‘Lots of people have asked “When can we join?”’ she says. The demand from young people is definitely there.

The biggest question on many people’s minds is finding the leaders to meet that demand. We know we’d need more adult volunteers to make early years Scouts work – and that drawing from existing volunteers isn’t an option. We also want to welcome volunteers from a wider range of backgrounds… so what better place to start than with the parents already getting stuck in with their children?

We’re not the first Scouts to use this logic. Countries who already have early years provision (including Northern Ireland, the USA and Denmark) say one of the many benefits is that it encourages more volunteers to give it a go. In the USA, 75% of parents who volunteer with Lions continue as their children move through the sections.

At One Voice Scout Group, there was no shortage of keen parents. ‘We started with 16 children,’ Nisbah says, ‘and 14 parents came forward to help’. Other pilot groups have found that the early years programme attracts a different age of volunteers: lots of grandparents have the children when they go to early years. One Voice also gained a new volunteer whose children had already been through Scouts, who wanted to join because she works in early years.

Where do we go from here?

Things are going well at One Voice Scout Group, but it’s important to remember that the pilots are only trials – we’re still exploring their impact, including whether they attract more adult volunteers and encourage people from underrepresented backgrounds to join Scouts.

We know it’s important that any early years provision doesn’t negatively affect existing sections, so we’re also looking at how the pilots affect groups, Districts and Counties.

The Board of Trustees (the people who make the big decisions about Scouts in the UK) expect to make a decision about early years Scouts in July 2020. They’ll either give the green light to develop a plan for rolling it out, ask people to continue piloting so they can learn more, or decide it doesn’t work and reject the concept.

Not all the evidence is ready yet (for example, we’re waiting for an external evaluation), so we don’t know what the Board will decide. If it’s given the go ahead, though, it’ll be optional, with a phased roll-out so we can make sure the right support’s in place.

The decision on whether it starts in your area is likely to be down to local line managers.

Remember, you can’t offer early years Scouts locally yet (no matter how exciting it seems) – groups don’t have permission to start early years provision outside these pilots. Unofficial provision is against our rules, could affect the pilots and wouldn’t be insured. The existing Squirrels programme, run under a Memorandum of Understanding with Scouts NI, isn’t affected by the pilots.

If you’ve got any questions or suggestions, we’re all ears. Let us know what you think here.