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12th Gateshead beavers

Welcome to Beavers! This is your first chance to join the worldwide family of Scouting with 12th Gateshead, and we are really pleased you’re here.

Our programme:

Our programme is designed to help every Beaver achieve the Chief Scouts Bronze Award, and we do this by running activities that help developing skills, learning to care about ourselves, each other and our surroundings, all while having fun with our friends.

2023 will start with a back to basics look at how Scouting was started by Baden Powell and moved on to what we do today. We are also looking at gaining some of our activity badges, including emergency aid, nights away and animal friend badge.

If you have any questions, please just ask the Leaders. We are always happy to help.

Susan and Calum

Beaver Scout Leaders

Who are beavers?

Beavers are young people, aged 6 to 8, who:

• Master new skills and try new things
• Have fun and go on adventures
• Make friends
• Are curious about the world around them
• Help others and make a difference, on their own doorsteps and beyond

Every week, they gather in groups called Beaver Colonies to hop, skip and jump their way through lots of different games and activities – achieving anything they set their minds to, and having lots of fun along the way.

The beaver promise

Most people will use this promise:

I promise to do my best and to be kind and helpful and to love God.

Those who are not religious may choose this promise:

I promise to do my best to be kind and helpful and to love our world.

Badges

Badge Placement:

Activity Badges:

Activity badges are earnt after completing an activity in beavers, during a camp or outside of scouts altogether.

In beavers, after a badge has been earnt, a badge giving ceremony will take place at the end of term. If more than one badge has been earnt during that term, then each of the badges earnt will be awarded.

It is possible to work on badges outside of beavers. If you think you are entitled to a badge, approach one of the leaders with evidence that you have completed the necessary work / leisure activities and they will try their best to award you that badge.

Note, the leaders need to buy badges from the beaver scout shop so the badges will be subject to availability.

You can view the full list of activity badges, and their requirements here.

Staged Activity Badges:

Staged activity badges are just like regular activity badges, except you can progress through different ranks depending upon how ‘in depth’ you have mastered the subject. For example, with the air activities badge, you will be awarded a level one after completing some basic tasks, but level five requires you to have actually been to an airfield and talked to someone who can fly a plane.

You can view the full list of staged activity badges, and their requirements here.

Challenge Badges:

Beaver challenge badges are all about stepping out of your comfort zone. They require much more dedication and an element of bravery to be awarded. It is a good idea to go for these awards, as getting all six along with four regular activity badges means you can get the chief scout’s gold award.

You can view the challenge badges and their requirements here.

Other Badges:

The world membership badge is very special – all groups wear this same symbol. This makes us a part of the world wide family of beaver scouts and is arguably the most important of all badges. The Scout’s badge is the arrow head, which shows the north on a map or on the compass. It is the badge of the scout in the Army because he/she shows the way.

The district badge, or Gateshead shows that we belong to the Gateshead district, and the county badge, or Durham shows that we belong to the county of Durham.

Uniform

Where do I get scout uniform?

You can purchase beaver uniform for your child at Whickham Thorns activity centre in Gateshead. Here is the link to their website: Shop | Whickham Thorns Outdoor Activity Centre. Alternatively, you can send them an email directly: shop@gatesheadscouts.org.uk.

Uniform can also be purchased from the online shop. Here is a link to the beaver section of the official scout uniform site: Beaver Uniform | Buy Beaver Uniform | Scout store, a shop for Scouts.

Beavers require the Turquoise sweatshirt. All other uniform items are optional, Baseball caps may be worn to weekly meetings, however, please see below for our standard uniform list.

Weekly Meetings

• Beaver Sweatshirt
• Beaver polo shirt (optional purchase from Scout Shops)
• Scout trousers / Walking trousers (e.g. Craghoppers) / tracksuit bottoms (plain dark colours only) / leggings (plain dark colours only) / Shorts (plain dark colours only) NO BLUE JEANS
• Trainers (non marking soles) / walking shoes. No flip flops or croc like shoes to be worn
• Group Necker (provided by us when your child makes their promise)
• Headwear for religious reasons

Church Parades / Other Official events

• Scout Shirt / Blouse
• School Trousers / Skirt / Scout Trousers
• Black School Shoes
• Necker
• Black Socks / Tights
• Headwear for religious reasons