Working in a section

All this training is fine, but how do you use it?

Well, you need to find a section where the Leader will welcome you into his or her team. If you have grown up in Scouting then you may want to stay with your old Group - that is fine, if not then there are always sections around the District who need help - you can take your pick!

If you have just left Scouts then we would strongly recommend that you don't go to help with the same Troop for at least 6 months, this gives you time to change to being a YL and for the Scouts to accept you as a Leader.

It would also be a good idea to try different sections or groups in your time as a YL, but that is not essential. However, you may like to experience different styles of leadership and you might find that Cubs really are not your cup of tea!

Whilst you are working with the young people, we hope you will continue to try new activities, learn new skils and that the section leader will involve you as a leader (if not then we will have words with them!). This leads us nicely onto Missions.

Missions

These are a series of tasks which were designed to be done over four years to help you learn new skills and to encourage your section leader to involve you more and more. By the end of the fourth Mission, you should be ready to think about taking out an adult warrant and the experiences and training you have gained will help you tick many of the boxes for adult training.

The first Mission is all about organising activities indoors, perhaps starting with part of an evening but working up, by the third activity, to a whole evening.

The second Mission is similar but is for outdoor activities where the risks are different, you may need to prepare more and certainly you will need to work with the other leaders. (Some YLs work on Missions 1 and 2 in parallel to suit the weather!)

The third Mission is all about listening to the young people, what do they want to do, is it practicable, how do you manage their expectations? Having found out what they want to do, you need to organise an activity - probably away from the normal location and possibly during a camp or as a special event.

The last Mission is about becoming involved in the leadership team, helping to plan the programme and organise evenings, being a full member of the leadership team.