Queen’s Scout Award, Explorer Belt and Scouts of the World Award

You should support young people to genuinely complete the award requirements where possible. Don’t forget there’s added flexibility – people now have until December 2022 to complete their award.

Where a young person turns 18 during this extended period, they must follow the rules and requirements relevant to their adult membership as a volunteer or a Scout Network member.

While some National restrictions are still in place, we recommend the following adjustments/alternatives to encourage young people to continue working towards their QSA:

*These alternatives will be available until January 2022. The reason for this is to help leaders encourage the young person to continue with the Award. After that date these adjustments will no longer be accepted (however, in the case of continued restrictions, we will update accordingly).

• The QSA can be obtained up to and including a person’s 25^th If they’ve turned 25 in the pandemic, they have until December 2022 to complete their award. Where a young person isn’t due to turn 25 for a while, leaders are encouraged to help a young person to complete the Award using the below guidance or by meeting the full requirements as permitted by the readiness level of your region.  
• Nights Away/Expedition: Nights at home can only be used for the requirement for Platinum or Diamond Awards. For QSA, the following alternatives are available:
  • It’ll be accepted if a young person has taken part in a family/non-Scouts camp, for the correct number of days, if they’ve completed their training, they’ve planned it, and it’s different from the other challenge activities.
  • Expeditions planned using the requirements on these DofE pages and in accordance with your Nation/Island’s Scout readiness level.
• ICV – International: If they haven’t completed an international trip already, they won’t be able to do this in 2021. The following options from the ICV list for QSA are still options for completing the Award:
  • Take part in a project with an international development organisation by helping out from within your local area or remotely. Present your experience to your Unit, Scout Network, or another relevant audience, such as another section.
  • Organise a series of six evening programmes for your Unit on an international theme agreed with your mentor.
  • Organise a series of six evening programmes for another section on an international theme agreed with your mentor.
  • Complete any activity of a similar nature agreed beforehand and registered with your mentor.
• Residential: Where it isn’t possible to facilitate a residential experience that meets the objectives of staying away from home as an individual with a new group of people, and that needs some level of training, then the following adjustments are available:
  • Residentials can be run with a minimum of four participants. This is to allow for single bedrooms for those providers who have limited bedrooms/facilities.

OR

• Participants can go home at night to sleep, following the evening meal and any evening activities.
• The residential experience can be split over two weekends if needed.
• Participants should aim to arrive before dinner on Friday evening and leave after 3pm on Sunday.

AND

• Both parts must be complete within one year.

AND

• Participants should be taking part in the same type of activity over each weekend, but each part can be with different people.

If the young person chooses to leave Scouts before completing their QSA:

*The certificate is specifically for those who are not completing the QSA as a direct result of the pandemic.

• We understand that, for some young people, COVID-19 restrictions have prevented them from achieving the Queen’s Scout Award. In other cases, the young person may have chosen themselves to finish their QSA journey and leave Scouts before completing it.
  • It’s vital for you to have a conversation about what the young person chooses to do – we’ve provided an extended deadline to December 2022 for completion in order to encourage them to continue.
  • In the case that they choose not to continue, there’s a partial completion certificate available. This can be personalised to celebrate the specific achievements and efforts the young person has made so far in working towards the QSA.
  • This certificate is only for those who are about to turn 25 – or have done so during the pandemic – before completing the Award, or those who are leaving Scouts before completing it. It isn’t for those who aren’t choosing to finish but will still remain in Scouts. The certificate will be on offer until January 2022.

Nights away at home don’t count towards the Queen’s Scout Award, as they’re not appropriate for this level of award. Young people working towards their Queen’s Scout Award won’t be able to complete their nights away until restrictions are lifted.

As these are our very top awards, any changes to award requirements must still be agreed between the young person and their County, Area, or Region Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, or their nominee.

On requirements, you’ll want to consider:

• Most importantly, the quality of the experience for the individual. Adapting or removing a requirement might result in a learning experience that stretches and challenges one young person, but not another.
• The volume or number of requirements you adapt. For example, allowing one month of a six-month requirement to be done online might be fine, but the whole six months might be too much.
• Equality of access for young people. Coronavirus disadvantages young people in different ways. You should adapt requirements so that no young person is excluded. For example, some young people have gardens for nights away, but some don’t – so make sure they can still take part somehow.

• We’re working on a certificate to recognise the achievements of anyone who’s started working towards their award but hasn’t completed all of the requirements. 
• As normal, you can still carry over nights away from the Chief Scout’s Diamond and Platinum Awards. These should not be nights at home.
• Please see our guidance on doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award during the pandemic for full information on expeditions. A suitable adaptation could be an expedition without the residential element.
• It’s possible to complete or adapt activities from the ICV lists during the pandemic. Talk to young people to find a solution that works for them – some people might prefer to wait until face-to-face meetings and use the extended timeframe to complete some of the activities.
• Only members who’ve completed the full award requirements will receive their Queen’s Scout Award at Windsor.