We had a brilliant first night as Victor Scouts.  For those of you who don’t know much about the scout section it is referred to as a troop (just like Joeys have a mob and Cubs have a pack).  Scouts work in small groups known as patrols (similar to sixes) with a mixture of ages and skill levels.  The scout award scheme is similar in progression to cubs except that scouts have to demonstrate proficiency in all elements at each level before progressing and the higher levels are very much orientated towards teaching and helping less experienced scouts.  Much of the activities are focused around this award scheme to enable the development of all scouts in a fun environment.
Our first night there was lots of fun and laughter, exploring and working together to clean up around the den and discovering all the fabulous Victor scout history that exists.
After a game of Whose Shoe? and Dragon Heads & Tails our scouts then co-operatively and democratically decided to form Penguin Patrol and were super excited to discover an existing patrol box with a penguin emblem already!
 Thus far Penguin Patrol is made up of scouts of varying ages and experiences:
Anastasia will be the patrol leader (PL) until the end of term when she will go to Venturers.  She has been a PL for 2 years and has already earned her Australian Scout Medallion (the highest award in the section) which she will receive shortly;
Elliot will be an assistant patrol leader.  He has previously been a PL for the past year. He is working on his Explorer (blue cord) Award;
Joseph will also be an assistant patrol leader.  He has previously been an APL for the past six months. He is working on his Explorer (blue cord) Award;
Alex linked from cubs in Term 2 this year having earned his Grey Wolf award and is currently working on his Pioneer (red cord) award;
Natasha (Tash) is a Grey Wolf awarded cub who has just finished her link and will be invested next week on camp at Badgers Wood;
Olivia (Livi) is a Grey Wolf awarded cub who has just finished her link and will be invested next week on camp at Badgers Wood;
Jess – joined us for a trial visit to see if she liked the group and if it worked for her family.  She also earned her Grey Wolf award and has been in the scout section most of this year.
If you see the scouts be sure to say hi!
Penguin Patrol is supported by three leaders: Echidna (Sarah-Jane Gregory) as section leader, Komodo (Nigel T.) and Falcon (Greg H.) as assistant scout leaders who are very excited to form the leadership team for Victor Scouts supporting kids to do their best!  Both Echidna and Komodo are Wood Badge leaders having completed all their training in the scout section.  Komodo was also a scout in former days himself.  Falcon is working on finishing his skills training and Wood Badge.  Falcon has also been in the scout movement in various sections over the past 20 years!
The term program has many different and exciting things planned including Crazy Russian Hacker night (check out YouTube if you want to know who he is), backwoods cooking, water safety target badge at South Bank, Spooky Disco at Tarragindi and another camp at Mt Barney Lodge.  We’re also hoping to do a visit one night and say hi to the cub pack 
We will also be going on camp this coming weekend to Badgers Wood including participation in JOTI (Jamboree on the Internet), hiking through Noosa Headlands National Park and a special link ceremony and investiture at Peregian Beach at sunset (6pm) on Sunday 19th of October followed by a family BBQ in the parklands.  If you would like to join the scouts for the afternoon at the beach and the investiture ceremony you would be very welcome.  If you could let Echidna know that would be helpful (echidnascout@gmail.com).
We are also already excited about Jamboree 2016 Leap into Fun and planning requirements around this too.
All together a fantastic start and we are looking forward to many adventures together in the years ahead.

Yours in Scouting,
Echidna