We are planning a number of good training sessions over the next 12 months which will help both new leaders who are embarking on Getting Started in the district, and other leaders who have partially completed training in the old or new scheme, gain their Wood Badge as painlessly as possible!

Some of the new ideas we have dreamed up to help leaders deliver better scouting for more young people include:

• There will no longer be a charge for the nineteen modules (check your Module Matrix) required
to complete the Wood Badge – they will be completely free!

• A complete revamp of our Child Protection training

• All training will now be delivered where and when it is wanted across the County. Your   Training
Adviser (TA) or Local Training Manager (LTM) will arrange for the training to be brought to you   in your
district if you can’t attend a formal course elsewhere in the county.

• “Validation sessions” will be run by LTMs to ensure leaders don’t need to attend modules    where they
can demonstrate prior knowledge and experience of the topic.

• A complete revamp of our First Aid training by Martin How and Pixie Sterman who are now   qualified to run and assess most levels of Red Cross courses. They will now be running the   Red Cross Basic
First Aid courses instead of the First Response and Update courses.

This means that leaders will obtain a nationally recognised qualification and the old two-hour updates will only now be run if requested by districts.

Those leaders who have requested a “fuller” course than First Response or the new Red Cross Basic training can now attend our Red Cross Practical First Aid course over a weekend.

This training is non-residential and, since it is not a mandatory course, there will be a charge of £20 which is much less than the Red Cross charges for this nationally recognised certificate.

As before, our First Aid courses need to be refreshed every three years and they all allow leaders to be validated for Module 10.