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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

Electing Sixers and Seconders

Encourage people to demonstrate and develop their leadership skills by electing Sixers and Seconders.
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Before you begin

  1. If you don’t yet have Sixes, divide everyone in your Pack into Sixes.
  2. If you already have Sixes, now’s a good time to check that they all have roughly the same number of members. If new Cubs have joined (and older Cubs have moved on), the Sixes may have become uneven. Think about who might be able to move over to make them all about the same size.
  3. Decide who will lead each Six as a Sixer and Seconder.

 Elect Sixers and Seconders

  1. Everyone should talk about what makes a good team leader.
  1. The person leading the activity might split everyone into Sixes (if they’re not already in Sixes) or ask some people to move around (if the Sixes aren’t even in size).
  2. The person leading the activity should announce who’s been chosen to lead each Six.
  3. The person leading the activity should present the Sixers and Seconders with their stripes.

Come together as a team

A great way to finish this ceremony is with a quick team game, to get everyone working together in their new structure.

  1. The person leading the ceremony should choose a game – it could be as simple as charades. They could ask everyone to suggest games, or hold a quick vote.
  2. Everyone should play the game, to get used to their new Sixer (and maybe even their new Six).

Reflection

This ceremony helped us to think about the skills needed to be good team leader. What special responsibilities does a team leader have? How can a team leader lead a team while also joining in a game or activity? How should a team leader talk to their team? Why do we have leaders?

This ceremony also helped us to think about what makes a good team player. How can you make sure you’re thinking about the whole team, and their goal? How can you show respect to your team leader? What can you do to help your leader? What should you do if you disagree with your leader?

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.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Cubs Team Leader Challenge Award

Being a Sixer or Seconder gives you a great opportunity to meet some of the requirements of the Team Leader Challenge Award. You could lead your Six in a game or activity to meet requirement one, or ask your Six what they want to do in Cubs and feedback to adults to meet requirement four.

Sixers and Seconders should voice the thoughts of their Pack to leaders, helping shape what Cubs do, learn, see, and experience.