We want all our volunteers to have the skills and knowledge they need to feel confident to keep young people safe and help them gain skills for life.

We organise learning at Scouts in what we call the Learning Tree. It’s made up of:

Safety, Safeguarding and First Response learning need to renewed every three years.

Step 1 – Growing Roots

Growing Roots is the learning you need to do within your first six months as a new volunteer, with Safety & Safeguarding completed within the first 30 days. It covers the basics of Scouts, safety, data protection and creating an inclusive environment.

Growing Roots for everyone

This is the learning that all new volunteers need to complete within their first six months.

The only people who don’t need to complete this learning are Presidents, Vice Presidents, Non Member – Needs Disclosure, Retired Members and Designated Carers.

It consists of:

• Safety
• Safeguarding
• Creating Inclusion
• Data Protection in Scouts
• Who we are and what we do

Growing Roots for Team Leads

This is the learning some people need to do. It contains the following:-

• Delivering a great programme
• Leading Scout volunteers (only District & County roles)

First Response

Although not technically a part of Growing Roots learning, First Response must be completed by group level Lead Volunteers within 12 months of starting a role.

Step 2 – Branching Out

Branching Out learning is for when you want to stretch yourself and develop your skills and knowledge.

Some of the Branching Out learning is required if you want to do certain things – like learning for our accreditations. Other learning is there for if, and when, it’s helpful for you.

It covers a wide range of topics, from practical Scouts skills and how to deliver adventurous activities, to how to manage projects and events. Delivery methods vary with some content designed to be delivered face-to-face, in practical skills workshops for example, or as online content on the My Learning digital tool.

You can see what Branching Out will look like by exploring our Learning Tree.

Undertaking the Learning

Training is made up of two stages, Learning and Validation. Learning provides the opportunity to gain or improve the knowledge and skills you need to be a leader and be successful in your role. The methods used for learning vary and you can pick how you want to complete the learning to fit with your individual learning style and the knowledge you may already have. In Nottinghamshire we aim to make learning fun, informative and to meet the individuals’ needs The following learning methods are available training courses.

Validating the Learning

This is the process of demonstrating that you can meet the objectives of the module. This can be done through a variety of methods from someone observing you in your Scouting role, providing evidence such as a witness testimony, or discussing with a Learning Assessor Evidence should be something you do as part of your role in Scouting and should not generate any extra work. You will find useful validation documents in our resources section above.