Happy New Year everyone!
I’m sure lots of you are looking at programme planning for the next term at the moment. Here’s some top tips…
- involve young people: don’t just sit round a table with adult leaders thinking of things to do, get the Scouts to brainstorm ideas or vote between two options, and involve your young leaders too!
- plan for the whole term: don’t go from week to week, this gives more structure and helps to book things and ask for more volunteer cover if needed
- use events/themes as inspiration: the Winter Olympics is coming up, what about using that as a theme, what about Valentine’s Day or Shrove Tuesday – but think out of the box, put a Scouting twist on it so you’re not just repeating what the kids have done in school
- put District events in your calendar: and before planning your own dates, this way you can plan things to prepare for them, and avoid duplication, remember District events are there to help you, not additional things which you need to fit it (wrexhamscouts.org.uk/events)
- ask other Leaders: there is loads of experience and expertise out there, if you can’t think of new ideas, STEAL!!! Google for Scout Group websites – if they’ve got a decent website, they’ll often have a good programme too!
- make good into great: don’t just settle for ‘that will do’, try and make your nights the best they can be, rather than just a dull first aid night, what about pulling out all the stops and recreating a car crash scene with fake wounds and invite the emergency services
- take photos & share: lots of time goes into planning just an hour’s programme, make it last forever by capturing the moment and saving the memories!
Hope this is useful, please ask on here if you need help or inspiration!
