September - December 2010
This term, the Scouts have been working very hard towards various badges, such as their Global and Promise Challenge Badges, as well as their Librarian & Chef Activity Badges. We also went on the camp to Dry Sandford, which helped the Scouts who went achieve quite a few more, including Quartermaster.
Below is a summary of the various things that we have been getting up to.
Global Challenge Badge
For the Scouts' Global Challenge Badge, the Scouts were asked to investigate a topic related to a country of their Patrol's choice, and put together a presentation or a poster showing this information.
There were some excellent presentations produced by the Scouts over the two weeks at the school. There were some very interesting facts, as well as some well made presentations with animations and photos. Some of the Scouts also achieved their IT Stage Badge 1 through the work that they did on the computers.
If you would like to look at any of the presentations that the Scouts produced, please click on the links below:
Jamaica
- Jamaican Wildlife (Elliott)
- Jamaican Military (Sam)
- Jamaican Food (Leah)
- Jamaican Legends and Sport (Owain and Robert)
- Jamaican Government and Politics (Josh)
Holland
- Holland's Rabbits (Matthew and George)
- Holland's Culture (Daniel)
- Holland (Olly)
- Holland (Toby)
France
- French Army (Ryan)
- French Language (Lambros)
- French Cuisine (Tom)
- France (Kieran)
Madagascar
- Wildlife (Callum)
- Climate (Sam)
- Animals and Scouts in Madagascar (James and Grace)
- Madagascar Animals (Oliver)
This term, the Scouts have been undertaking their Promise Challenge Badge. In order to get the badge, the Scouts have to participate in five different activities, such as furthering the understanding of their faith, or helping to write the Troop's Code of Conduct. This term, the Scouts have spent an evening:
1. Reviewing an event a discussing how they would do better next time
2. Talking about three times that they have recently done their best.
We also had a Troop Forum during an evening. The Scouts were asked to think about the motion:
"Scouts should be allowed to carry knives with them during Scout evenings and camps"
This topic was chosen as it should feel personal to them and relate to their experiences as a Scout. Two Patrols were asked to discuss and argue for the motion, and two against.
At the end, each side had to summarise their main points, and then we voted who was for and against the motion.
The Scouts seemed to really engage and relate to the issues discussed, and there were some interesting discussions related to their personal safety and security, as well as the opportunities it could give them as a Scout. We were all very impressed with the Scouts' attitudes!
The Troop Forum was also for the Promise Challenge. Those who completed their Global Challenge and who came on Remembrance Day Parade (as well as the forum, review and saying when they've done their best) have completed all five aspects of their Promise Challenge. For those who didn't, there are still plenty of opportunities to complete this badge!
The Scouts also went to the Didcot Library in order to do their Librarian Badge.
Firstly, the Scouts discussed different types of books for different age ranges, and where they are situated in the library. The Scouts learnt that fiction and non-fiction books are in different sections, and are ordered in contrasting ways (fiction are stacked on shelves in alphabetically order of the authors' surname, whereas non-fiction follow the Dewey system).
The Scouts had to arrange some author names in alphabetical order; they found that it takes a while to order only 20 names, let alone a whole library full of names!
In groups, the Scouts were asked to find out different aspects of a country and a journey to it. As the Scouts had just completed their Global Challenge, they were given the same country as they looked at before. The Scouts had to look on the online catalogue, find information in reference books, travel guides etc. 
The Scouts seemed to love going around the library searching for information! The all seemed very engaged with the librarian, and everyone seemed to have an informative and interesting time.
