Venturer Scouts at AJ2025

Venturer Scouts can attend Jamboree with the Victorian Contingent, including 15 year old's.

Scouts Victoria is not subscribing to this approach for Venturer Scouts, but is encouraging Venturer Scouts to attend as 'Venturer Scouts - Service Leaders'.

Accordingly, we have adjusted the Victorian Contingent eligibility requirements to ensure that Venturer Scouts enjoy a Jamboree experience appropriate to their age and maturity. The application system will default to registering a 15 year old as a Venturer Scout. If this is not appropriate, please contact viccon@scoutsvictoria.com.au to request this be changed to 'Scout' and explain the reasons this needs to be considered. If necessary the contingent team will consult with the leaders in the Scout's local group to discuss the request.

Victorian Contingent Variations

• We are not limiting the upper-age of Scouts. If a 15 year old is active in a Scout Unit they can attend as a Scout participant.
• We are not limiting the lower-age of Venturer Scouts attending. We are accepting 15 year olds to attend as Venturer Scout Service Leaders
• Completion of Milestone 1 (in either Scout or Venturer Scout eligibility is not essential, and is now accepted as 'actively working towards or have completed Milestone 1' in the relevant Scout or Venturer Scout section

Considerations in our decision

The Jamboree program is delivering a 'Scout experience', there are no program elements intended to give a 'Venturer Scout experience'.

Venturer Scouts 'engaged as a Scout ...' includes unit life; eating, sleeping, socialising, activity participation, all with 11, 12, 13, and 14 year old Scouts. This includes duty patrols, and any curfews or constraints on Scout participants in a unit.

Venturer Scout Service Leaders will be camping with other Venturer Scouts, managed by Venturer Scout Leaders, and in all other respects will be treated as adult service leaders, dining in catered facilities and socialising with other Venturer Scouts and leaders. Other leader facilities will also be accessible to Venturer Scout Service Leaders, except of course the off-site leader club which is restricted to over 18 year olds due to it being a licenced premises. Like adult leaders, Venturer Scout Service Leaders will get to nominate their preferences for activities or service areas where they will be allocated.

As a Venturer Scout Service Leader, Venturer Scouts will have opportunities to progress OAS skills at their level, and will be allowed special after-hours time to use the adventurous activities facilities on site, and are welcome at all the entertainment and other Jamboree experiences on offer to Scouts in the evenings. They can even socialise with Scouts if they want.

Victoria held VicJam in place of the cancelled AJ2022, other states did not have a substitute event. This was the core reason for including the Venturer Scout Program Participant category.

Inclusion of Venturer Scouts in 'a patrol comprising of Scouts' could detract from the 'Scout experience' and potentially be disruptive to the management of the Unit, in particular the likelihood that a Jamboree Patrol Leader of 13 or 14 may be challenged with managing a 15 or 16 year old Venturer Scout, or their presence may even usurp the opportunity for a Scout to be selected as Jamboree Patrol Leader.

The fee for Venturer Scout Program Participants is the same as a Scout - $2,695. The fee for a Venturer Scout Service Leader is about half that - $1,315 - the same as an adult Leader.

Exceptional cases will be considered on a case by case basis on their own merits. This has always been a feature of Victorian Contingents in the past, and is always in consultation with the individual's leaders and parents, and rarely has a request been refused. Please contact viccon@scoutsvictoria.com.au for more information.