WHICH GROUP SHOULD I JOIN
Joey, Cub, Scout or Venturer
Scouts provide fun youth development activities, building resilient and confident girls and boys aged 5 to 25 in the Joey Scout, Cub Scout, Scout, Venturer Scout and Rover Scout Sections. We also welcome adult volunteer Scout Leaders. Scouts have opportunities for the whole family to be involved. Everyone is welcome, and we value the diversity of our members.
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Joeys 5 - 8 years
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Cubs 8 - 10 years
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Scouts 11 - 14 years
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Venturers 15 - 17 years
JOEYS
Ages 5 to 8 years
Joey Scouts or just Joeys is the first Section of Scouts for girls and boys aged 5 to 8, and it’s all about discovery and excitement! Joeys are part of a ‘Mob’, led by a Joey Leader. Joeys are encouraged to express themselves creatively, through games, stories and craft activities. From building monsters and spaceships from scrap items to growing plants from seedlings and singing songs together, all Joeys develop a strong sense of belonging and an understanding of the world around them. Joeys learn how to share and care, and help other people. They also learn how to recognise native birds and animals, and develop an understanding of the impact of our modern world on the environment. Some Joeys might even get the chance to have their first sleepover with their Mob, an important and fun ‘first’ for developing independence.
A trained Joeys Leader guides a Joey Mob of up to 20 girls and boys. The safety of all Joey is very important, which is why there are always leaders on hand during all activities and a Joey parent is required to stay with the mob during activities.
CUBS
Ages 8 to 10 years
Cub Scouts have a lot of fun doing a lot of interesting things! There are games to play, codes and skills to learn, places to see and new friends to meet. Cub Scouts all help each other and try to help other people too. Each week you’ll get together with other boys and girls your age and be led into adventure! You’ll wear your own Cub Scout uniform to show you’re one of us. And you’ll be able to collect special badges to put on your uniform to show your achievements.
Fun Out and About
Cub Scouts get to see a lot and do a lot. We spend weekends away together camping and exploring. We go to sports meetings, visit factories, go to the zoo, the museum, or the fire department headquarters. We learn bushcraft, and we learn how to fly model aeroplanes.
There’s a lot more Cub Scouts do too. Why not come along and find out?
Fun in a Pack
You’ll find there are around 24 girls and boys in your Cub Scout Pack. All of them are just like you. They all might have different interests and be good at different things, but they all want to enjoy themselves and have fun. Like you, they’ll be learning new things each week and discovering how great it is to be a Cub Scout.
Fun from the Start
At your first Pack meeting, you may feel a bit shy, to begin with, but it won’t take long to get to know everyone.
You’ll learn the Scout Salute, the Handshake, the Motto, the Grand Howl, Pack Calls, the Cub Scout Law and the Cub Scout Promise. The leaders will help you. You’ll soon be making friends with the other Cub Scouts and having a terrific time!
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Fun in a Six
Your Pack will be divided into `Sixes’, so named because each `Six’ will have 6 people in it. The first badge you’ll put on your uniform is the colour patch of your Six.
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Fun with your Sixer
One of the boys or girls in your group will be your `Sixer’ (a bit like the Captain of your school sports team). You’ll know your Sixer by the two yellow stripes worn on their left pocket. The Sixer often has a `Second’ as a helper (a bit like a Vice-Captain) who wears one yellow stripe. You too could eventually wear these stripes one day and become a Sixer or a Second of your Pack.
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Fun with your Leaders
Your Cub Scout Leaders are adults who may once have been Cub Scouts themselves! Your Leader is known as `Akela’ (The Wolf – the one who stands alone). Akela’s helpers are known as also have names from Rudyard Kipling story “The Jungle Book”.
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Fun earning Badges
Cub Scouts can earn achievement badges by doing things that interest them and by learning new skills like cycling, electronics, sports, cookery, boating, writing and more. There are also special Boomerang Badges earned by doing things like tying knots, first aid, hiking in the bush and building models. There are three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold Boomerang Badges.
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Fun near You
Cub Scout Packs meet regularly at a place close to you. The Pack Leader would love to see you at the next Pack meeting.
The programs in Cub Scouts emphasise exciting and challenging activities based on individual needs.
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Opportunities for interaction in small groups
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A sense of belonging and achievement
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Practise leadership and problem-solving skills
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Develop a sense of fair play and justice
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Satisfy curiosity and the need for adventure
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Develop fitness and creative skills
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Provide new experiences and the opportunity to learn by doing
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Provide the opportunity to make choices and decisions
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Provide the opportunity to express and respond to individual spiritual development needs
All Cub Scout activities are designed to be appropriate to age, development, social competence, family and community circumstances.
SCOUTS
Ages 11 to 14 years
Don’t just talk about what you can do!
Get stuck in…
Scouts is one of the best-kept secrets for young people aged 11 – 15 and no wonder! It is the biggest and most successful youth organisation in Australia – not to mention the world – with thousands of boys and girls enjoying an almost unlimited range of activities. And there’s always room for more!
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Don’t get lost!
As a scout, you’ll receive expert instruction in a wide variety of outdoor skills, together with the all-important basic theory to make sure you don’t get lost and can deal with life’s emergencies. You’ll go on camps with a few friends or join thousands of boys and girls for fun and adventure at a national Jamboree (held every 3 years) and even the World Jamboree (Next one in South Korea in 2023)
Your confidence will build and you’ll learn how to make decisions and work as part of a team. In a small group called a Patrol, an older, more experienced Scout will be your Patrol Leader and help develop your skills. Weekly meetings are held to build up skill levels, play games and have fun and plan for weekend adventures. You’ll quickly become familiar with the equipment and the right way to use it.
VENTURERS
Ages 15 to 17 years
It’s your life… Get on with it!
Bored? Feel like doing something with your life? Don’t know where to start?
Try Venturer Scouts. It’s a do-it-yourself mix of fun, adventure and personal challenge that will bring you together with other young people who feel the same way.
You may find yourself exploring wilderness Australia, camping above the snowline or diving on coral reefs. You could be abseiling into a limestone cave or climbing a sheer rock face. Perhaps you’ll learn whitewater kayaking or ride your mountain bike on an expedition across real mountains.
Whatever your challenge, there will be trained and highly experienced adults to guide you through the experience, to teach you the necessary skills and safety techniques. Venturers get the opportunity to travel overseas and to organised activities, to live with a different community to provide service to others.
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Manage your own program
Venturers don’t just develop physical skills. You will manage your own Venturer Unit, where the adult leaders are there to provide advice, not rule your life. The Unit Council makes the decisions, plans and runs the activities, drawing on expert help whenever it is required. You can even develop your own website to promote your activities.
You’ll have the opportunity to become involved in staging professional shows, learning how to act, sing or play an instrument. Perhaps you’ll make videos, become a sound engineer, develop your own photographs or contribute your writing for publication. You will learn responsibility for the environment and work on service projects, helping other people in the community.
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Look Wide
There are leadership and management courses that will help you in your career and personal life when you have to make all the decisions. You’ll learn how to meet new challenges, deal with new situations, and develop your own independence. Your achievements will be recognised, with the ultimate goal the Queen’s Scout Award, which employers regard very favourably. Venturers really is the pathway to success.
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Get a social life
The Social side of Venturers is up to you. There will be camps and discos, outings and shared interest so you will meet new people and have plenty of time to get to know them and make lifelong friends. Venturers are serious about having fun.
Venturer Scouts is for young people from 14 – 18 and you don’t have to have experience in Scouts or Guides first. It’s your call – find out where your nearest Venturer Unit meets.
ADULT LEADERS
18 years plus
Leader roles vary through the Sections, as youth members take more responsibility for their activities as they progress in age. Types of Leaders include:
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Group Leaders – responsible for leading and promoting the Scout Group in the local community and ensuring it operates in accordance with the Policies and Rules and administrative practices of the Association
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Section Leaders (Joey Scout, Cub Scout, Scout, Venturer Scout) – responsible for the planning and running of exciting, challenging weekly and weekend programs which attract new members to their Section and retain existing ones, attending and running weekly Group meetings during school terms, attending group activities (e.g. hikes or camping trips), attending monthly Leaders meeting, supervising and providing instruction, assistance and testing of youth members in skills appropriate to the program of the section especially in topics and skills of the Award Scheme
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Assistant Section Leaders – take part in the planning and participate in the running of exciting, challenging weekly and weekend programs which attract new and retain existing members
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Activity Leaders – Adults who have a certain interest in adventurous activities such as abseiling or water activities have the opportunity to become an Activity Leader. Activity Leaders are responsible for delivering activities, training and support around their specific activity to facilitate a more adventurous Scouting program.
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Leaders of Adults – are involved in training other adult members of Scouting.
PARENT HELPERS
Experience Scouts with your child
Scouting is a voluntary organisation and we rely heavily on parent support. If you are not prepared to give this support, perhaps you should reconsider your decision to have your family join Scouts. The level of support given will depend on the individual circumstances of each family.
Regular help is needed for:
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Special Skill
If you have a skill that may be of interest to the youth members that you may be able to run on one or two nights a year (ie woodworking, mechanic, stamp collector, cooking etc). Leaders are always after different programming ideas and assistance to run of a night time. Or you may know someone else to has a unique skill.
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Transport
Occasionally the Scouts will need to be transported to the activities included in our programs.
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Hall Maintenance
It is important that the place in which our children gather is clean, hygienic and safe. Assistance will be required for mowing lawns, the regular maintenance tasks with perhaps an annual working bee for the larger jobs.
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Fundraising
Organising or assisting at fundraising activities.
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Group Committee
The really hard work of building the Scout Hall and providing most major resources has already been done by past committee members.
Current parent committee members attend monthly meetings to assist the Group Leader in the management of the resources and may also be involved in planning social events for the group. It is expected that every family will be represented at least once on the Group Committee during their child’s time in Scouts.