Badges

The ability to earn badges for a range of different skills and activities is a key aspect of the Scouting movement. It enables our young people to demonstrate their interests and abilities across a wide range of activities, and we wear our badges with pride.

There are a range of different badges, awarded for different things, and if you click on each section in the header you can see where these badges should be placed.

Core Badges

These include the badges given when young people join, or for moving section, and for time spent in the Scouting movement.

Activity Badges

Many of the badges available are activity badges, which allow Scouts to show their progress in existing pursuits, but also to try all kinds of new things and form new interests. Some of these will be covered in our programme on meeting nights, but others can be done at home and evidence brought in to show the leader. 

Challenge Badges

Gaining a Challenge Badge involves accomplishing a number of more ambitious tasks within the Troop or community. Whilst some Activity Badges may be gained in just a week or two, Challenge Badges will require more commitment and time to achieve. In Scouting we aim to deliver a Balanced Programme, which will aid our young people to become well-rounded, independent individuals - the range of Challenge Badges reflects this. Earning all of the Challenge Badges in a section (Beavers, Cubs or Scouts) will result in receiving the Chief Scout's Award (Bronze, Silver or Gold respectively).

The Chief Scout's Award badges are the only ones (out of the Activity and Challenge badges which are transferred onto the uniform of the next section.

Staged Activity Badges

There are 14 Staged Activity Badges. Unlike the Activity and Challenge Badges, which are specific to their section, the same Staged Activity Badges can be accessed at any level throughout Scouting, enabling young people to make progress at their own pace. Some badges such as Nights Away are awarded only for Scouting activities, but others such as Swimmer and Musician can be earned elsewhere. 

Where a young person has earned more than one stage of a badge, the one of highest value is transferred onto new uniform when the young person changes sections.

Occasional Badges

These are worn on the left hand side of the shirt or top, above the World Scout badge (the round purple one). These are worn for a limited amount of time, and permission to wear them is at the discretion of the District Commissioner - they usually reflect participation in a Scouting event. Once the time is up and the occasional badge is removed from the shirt, it can be added to the young person's camp blanket.

Blanket Badges

Traditionally, young people in Scouting will amass quite a collection of badges, for instance to commemorate all the different camps they have been to - these are not uniform badges and should not be sewn onto uniform tops and shirts,  they can go on a blanket or hoody. Many people also add to their blankets the badges that they have had on their uniform too.