title: Beaver Scouts (Scouting Ireland)
text: # Beaver Scouts (Scouting Ireland)
  
  Beaver Scouts (commonly known as Beavers) are the youngest age group in Scouting Ireland, being boys and girls aged between 6 and 8 years of age. The personal progressive scheme is broken down into three stages 'Bree' (Year 1) 'Ruairc' (Year 2) and 'Conn', while Adventure skills, Special Interest Badges and the Chief Scout Award also form part of the progress scheme.
  
  ## Structure
  
  A group of Beavers is called a Beaver Scout Colony. The colony is run by a team of Programme Scouters (often with a "Section Leader" as the head) and often Venture Scouts. The beaver colony operates a very loose form of the Patrol System, in accordance with the Scout method, whereby Beavers are divided into small groups called lodges. The head beaver in a lodge is known as a lodge leader who is helped by an assistant lodge leader; these positions are changed frequently within the lodge.
  
  