Squirrel Scouts are the newest, and youngest, members of the UK Scout Association.
Aimed at children aged 4-6, they were trialled as Hedgehogs by the Scout Association and the Department for Education, to extend outdoor education for children in inner city areas. On 1st September 2021, the Scout Association formally adopted the Section as Squirrel Scouts. Ivel Springs, our District Drey, opened on 17th February 2024.
The aim of Squirrels is to encourage young children to develop skills and experience the outdoors though play. As a precursor to Beaver Scouts, they wear uniform (of red jumpers, to represent the red squirrels found on Brownsea Island – home of Baden-Powell’s experimental Scout camp), earn badges and spend nights away, as the other Scouting Sections do.
In Letchworth, Baldock and Ashwell District we currently have one Squirrel Drey, Ivel Springs Squirrels, which takes young people from the District’s Colony waiting lists and offers them a place within the Drey. It does not have a separate waiting list of its own, so that we can ensure a place for the Squirrels in Beaver Scouts, once they are old enough to move on.
If you are interested in your child becoming a Squirrel, please fill in the enquiry form and the District team will allocate them to a Beaver Colony and also share their details with the Drey.
