Patrol Method with a very young troop

[Cambridgeskip 658]

Despite all of my lamenting with my current troop's situation, I've seen young Scouts step up to the plate. I've seen 11, 12, and 13 year olds doing VERY well as PL. I saw an 11 year old do a decent job as SPL. Yes that shocked me.

 

My advice, find some old William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt literature. I do not know how well known Billis in the UK, but he was extremely influential int eh BSA up until 1967 or 68 when he retired. Then when BSA changes the Scouting program in 1972, Bill came out of retirement in 1978 to fix the problem.

 

Where BP founded Scouting, Bill took what BP and others did, expanded upon it. He experimented with a troop to try his ideas and write it down.

 

Most people here will never heard of Green Bar Bill! I only have through looking at this forum.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

Thanks for the ideas chaps.

 

The one that is interesting is letting patrols form themselves. While it is occasionally done here it is very rare. I think the reason is that we don't tend to have the big groups of new starters moving up from cubs in one go that I think you have. They come in a trickle throughout the year. So I had 2 new starters after Christmas, I think I'm getting 3 up from cubs after Easter (typically they move on at the end of a school term) plus a 2 or 3 more from our waiting list.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

JASM's in our area tend to be retired Eagles who have yet to age out.  They basically have nothing to do and they tend to do it well.

 

Occasionally you get a YL here who isn't really there to be a YL. They don't want to quit scouts and they don't want to go to explorers. They don't tend to last very long as a YL! Of my 3, 2 are former SPLs from the troop and one got recruited by one of the others from their world jamboree unit. All 3 are fantastic and I can see them rapidly maturing and developing.

[Stosh 3452]

Occasionally you get a YL here who isn't really there to be a YL. They don't want to quit scouts and they don't want to go to explorers. They don't tend to last very long as a YL! Of my 3, 2 are former SPLs from the troop and one got recruited by one of the others from their world jamboree unit. All 3 are fantastic and I can see them rapidly maturing and developing.

As it should be. 

[Krampus 696]

JASM's in our area tend to be retired Eagles who have yet to age out.  They basically have nothing to do and they tend to do it well.

 

Ours are usually advanced Life scouts or Eagles, nearly all have been SPLs. They are worth more to me than most ASMs.

[qwazse 4342]

Thanks for the ideas chaps.

 

The one that is interesting is letting patrols form themselves. While it is occasionally done here it is very rare. I think the reason is that we don't tend to have the big groups of new starters moving up from cubs in one go that I think you have. They come in a trickle throughout the year. So I had 2 new starters after Christmas, I think I'm getting 3 up from cubs after Easter (typically they move on at the end of a school term) plus a 2 or 3 more from our waiting list.

So, how integrated are the new starters? Have they sort of settled into a patrol yet? Gone on several trips? Know the rest of the troop (at least by name)?

 

I think part of the decision about mixing things up hinges on how cohesive your existing patrols are. Over here, that's often a function of mutual activities and clique's that form outside of the scout house. If they aren't very cohesive you might want to encourage the new scouts to hang with a different patrol each meeting, then allow everyone to draw their lines at the end of school. If they are very cohesive, you might want to have each couple of scouts settle on their patrol (or, the patrols settle on their scouts) as they join. Patrol A takes the first lot, patrol B the second, etc ...