The Scouts are to 'Pilot' a new section for 4 and 5 year olds to enable young people to start developing #SkillsForLife earlier!

The Scouts said today that a key component of their #SkillsForLife plan was to explore how The Scouts can work with younger children in society to enable them to develop key #SkillsForLife even earlier than 6! 

The Department for Education has now agreed to fund 20 pilot projects in England to enable us to test different models for 4 and 5 year olds and see what works best!

The Scouts want to hear from interested groups who would be willing to be part of the pilot project; particualrly those in more deprived areas of England. If you would be interested you can place an expression of interest by clicking here. 

The Scouts have said that in the future they will send updates to all leaders as to whether the trials have been successful and if there will be a wider roll-out of the youngest section - there is no name for this section as yet and names will be trialed as part of the pilot schemes.

Matt Jones, District Commissioner, added, "this is great news for all our members, by potentially allowing 4 and 5 year olds into local Scouting this will enable us to teach more key #SkillsForLife to more young people, it will allow us to grow and develop and will enable us to have a greater impact on our local communities. It will be great to hear about the impact these pilot projects have and I am incredibly excited to see if they are successful."