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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Closing a Beaver meeting

This is just one way to finish your meetings with a friendly farewell.
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Lots of people find it helpful to have a structure to their meetings, including things like a closing ceremony. A closing ceremony brings everyone back together at the end of a busy time, and gives everyone the chance to reflect on what they’ve done and prepare for what’s coming up.

Gather logs

  1. The person leading the closing should call out ‘Beavers, gather logs!’
  2. Everyone should get into a big circle around the leader and hold hands. They should leave plenty of space in the middle of the circle.
  3. The person leading the closing should call out ‘Build a dam!’
  4. Everyone should raise their joined hands. They should take seven big steps into the middle of the circle, towards the person leading the closing. With each step, they should say one letter of the word ‘goodbye’ to spell it out.
  5. Once they’ve taken their seventh step and said ‘e’, everyone should let go of each other’s hands and wave to each other.
  6. The person leading the closing should reply ‘Goodbye Beaver Scouts!’
  7. Everyone should stay in the circle while the person leading the activities leads a reflection, hands out things such as awards or prizes, thanks any visitors, and gives people letters and reminders.

Reflection

Closing ceremonies are a great chance for everyone to come together and think about what it means to be part of a Colony with friends, as well as being a local, national, and international citizen. Everyone should get into pairs or groups of three, and talk about why Beaver Scouts have a closing ceremony. How does it make them feel? It might help people to feel connected to the worldwide family of Scouts, or to their friends closer to home, and it can also be a chance to think about their Promise, how they did their best at Beavers today, and any skills they learned.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Contact games and activities

Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.

It’s up to you what word you spell – some people spell out ‘Beavers’ or the name of their Group. You could choose ‘bye’ for a shorter closing ceremony. Other people choose to use a song or a flag in their closing ceremonies.

Use British Sign Language or Makaton if you need to. No one has to hold hands if they don’t want to, they can still be part of the circle. You can change how loudly you say things, too. People could whisper the letters of the word if anyone doesn’t like a lot of noise.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Membership Award

Design your own closing ceremony, unique to your Colony.

Young people could take it in turns to lead the ceremony – it doesn’t have to be a grown up calling out the words.