Aimed at Participants and Section Leaders –
Author – Duke of Edinburgh Advisor - Kay Aitken
Responsible Commissioner – ACC Activities - Andy Hunt
Reviewed Annually in December – Last Reviewed April 2018
The Queen Scouts Award, Explorer Belt and SOWA are the top awards in Scouting and it is Northamptonshire Scout’s goal that every Scout in the senior sections’ should be given the opportunity to achieve these awards.
To make the awards more accessible to more young people in the Northamptonshire Scout County – we believe that clearer direction should be given on the requirement of the award and what support the County Team can offer. We have therefore issued this guidance.
The County Team recognise that one clear set of guidelines underpin this ambition and these guidelines have been written in collaboration between the County DofE Manager, Network Commissioner, ACC Explorers, ACC Activities and County Training Manager.
The Scout awards listed above – Chief scouts Platinum Award, Chief Scouts Diamond Award and Queen’s Scout Award are very similar in structure and content to their respective Duke of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. It is the recommendation of the collaborative team above, that Scouts undertaking any of the Senior Awards also register and complete the respective Duke of Edinburgh Award. The benefit to individuals in doing so is the D of E Scheme has greater national recognition, especially by employers.
Since April 2017 – all young people in the association wishing to become a Queen Scout / DofE Gold holder or undertake the Explorer Belt have been given additional support from the Senior Award panel. They now have better access to ‘Experts’ who can help an individual understand how to register for these awards along with the requirements and how to plan their awards. This has proved very successful producing a significant increase in Awards completed and newly registered participants. With this in mind, it is intended Districts should be encouraged to manage a District Senior Awards Panel that services Bronze and Silver DofE and Platinum and Diamond Chief Scouts Awards including the respective ICV Explorer Belt type challenges. This Panel will be known as ‘District Chief Scout Awards Panel’
This Awards panel will be chaired by the District D of E advisor. The panel should ideally include the DESC and DESA but can include the District Network Commissioner, DC and any other person nominated by the DC. It is recommended that there should be three members on any Senior Awards Panel.
This panel will take responsibility for managing and mentoring individuals who have chosen to undertake Bronze / Silver D of E and/or Platinum / Diamond Chief Scout Awards including the Explorer Belt Styled Challenges in the ICV sections.
Whilst there is no requirement to register for the Platinum and Diamond Chief Scout Awards there is a requirement to register for Bronze and Silver DofE. It is expected that these Awards are managed locally by District DofE coordinators, Explorer Scout Leaders and Network Commissioners. Guidance on how to register and the support available for Bronze and Silver DofE can be found by clicking here.
The object of the panel is to encourage the young participant to develop a plan on how they intent to achieve their award and ensure they have adequate support to achieve their goals by checking they have a suitable mentor in place. This mentor will ordinarily be the Young Persons Explorer Scout Leader or Network Commissioner.
Once a participant has completed all elements of their Award they should return to the panel to have their work reviewed and Award verified.
It is for the District to decide locally how frequently they meet but it is recommended this should be no less than once a quarter.
This Awards panel will be chaired by the D of E County Manager but owned by ACC Activities, the panel will consist of no less than three members who will be drawn from The Chair, ACC Network, ACC Explorer Scouts, County Commissioner, The Deputy County Commissioners and ACC Activities.
The Senior Awards panel meet four times a year and they can be found in the County Scouts diary held on the County Website.
This panel takes responsibility for Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, Queen Scout Award, Explorer Belt and SOWA each of which the candidate must register for.
Once registered each young person is expected to set out how they will achieve their award in conjunction with their mentor, the activities will then be approved by the Panel, this is a support mechanism to ensure the participant has a sound and robust plan which could withstand scrutiny at a later date, such as when they have completed their award.
It is the vision of Northants Scouts that the mentors will be young adults who have recently been awarded a Queen’s Scout Award and/or Explorer Belt.
Prior to any final panel review on completion of any award, assessor reports will be submitted for the following sections.
Northants network now has the ‘Online Scout management’ tool where Nights away, Membership, International, Communities and Values sections can be recorded.
On completion of all required sections, the young person will need to return to the panel, who will receive the participant's presentation and assess whether their objectives have been achieved. Prior to returning to panel the participant should complete all relevant paperwork such as the Queen’s Scout Certificate form (national form) and return to the ACC Network or ACC Explorers. It is recommended that participants return to panel no less than 6 months prior to their 25th Birthday so they can complete any advised remedial actions. Each applicant will attend a Panel meeting, to present his or her Journey. The Panel will approve the relevant Award in conjunction with the relevant ACC.
1 – That the applicant is registered for the QSA and DofE.
2 – Membership – that the applicant has been a member of the Explorer scout or Network section for a period of 18 Months or an active member in the following roles and registered for Network.
3 – Nights Away - the applicant must demonstrate 18 nights away which registered for the Award, these can include –
4 – Expeditions – It is Northants scout view that a Queen’s Scout Expedition should comply with the 20 conditions as stipulated by the DofE.
Exceptions to these conditions will be viewed on an individual basis but must be approved by the QSA panel prior to any expedition taking place.
5 – The ICV sections – these must not have been previously used for lower level awards – but may include (but not limited to)
6 – Volunteering sections – include an element of training which will have been necessary to undertake your volunteering, (up to the value of one-quarter of the overall time for the section, i.e. for 12 months of volunteering – 12 hours should be training)
[1] The relevant ACC is dependent on the section in which the QSA is completed. Ie for those under 18 this will be the ACC explorers and for young people 18-25 this will be the ACC Network.
