Supporting you to help more Young People achieve their Top Awards

In 2019 we had 935 of our Young People from all sections achieve a Top Award*, which is a great achievement. This equated to 1 in 8 of our Young People. However, we believe we can do better (the average of the other Scottish Regions is 1 in 6) and an ambitious regional plan has been created to help us achieve that over the next couple of years.

We recognise that supporting young people to achieve their Top Awards is not an easy task and we are conscious there is a lot for all leaders to do, simply to return to face to face Scouting, when we are allowed, to ensure everyone is safe. However, we also need to make sure that our programmes are designed to encourage our Young People to return to Scouting too. Why? Well research that we have done does show there is a strong correlation between quality programmes, supporting achievement of badges including Top Awards and retention of young people, either when they are moving from section to section or, especially when they Explorers and in Network, so that they stay in Scouting. By Young People achieving their Top Awards, it gives them skills for life and experiences and lifetime memories that they may not be able to gain elsewhere. Every Top Awards badge achieved has a story behind it of what the recipient did to gain it, sacrifices they made, experiences gained, all underpinned hopefully by fun and adventure. After all, it’s what Scouting is all about!

Therefore, to support our Leaders in creating these programmes and also having the skills in delivering them, a Regional plan has been produced. Lots of support is being created namely training, access to online tools and content expedition support, peer support and organising celebration events. 

Your District Commissioners are ensuring that we are prioritising the actions for your District and we will signpost the support when it is created in future newsletters and on social media. If you wish to have a copy of the action plan or have any general comments on Top Awards and how we can help more Young People achieve them, please contact Simon Cocker (simon.cocker@sessscouts.org.uk) or the relevant Assistant Regional Commissioner for your sections, (listed below), who are actively involved in delivering the plan.

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts – Neil Hogg – neil.hogg@sesscouts.org.uk

Explorers – John Buchanan – explorers@sesscouts.org.uk

Network – Laura Gilman – network@sesscouts.org.uk

*Top Awards

Simon Cocker
Deputy Regional Commissioner, Programme
simon.cocker@sessscouts.org.uk