Organising Sixes, Patrols and Lodges

Every term the same puzzle comes around: new starters need a Six, a couple of Patrols have grown lopsided, someone has just earned their Sixer stripe — and the Red Six wants to know if they're still winning. The Patrols page brings it all together: arrange your section on one board, name your groups, and keep a running scoreboard, with the records updating themselves as you go.

Where to find it#

In the left sidebar, click Patrols. If your group runs more than one section, use the section picker at the top to switch between them. The page has three tabs:

• Scoreboard — award and track points (see Keeping score below)
• Organiser — arrange young people into their groups
• Names — add, rename or remove your group names

Patrols is in the sidebar for leaders and group admins. If you had the old Tools → Patrols, Sixes & Lodges page bookmarked, it now brings you straight here.

Everywhere on this page, Scoutworks uses the right words for your section automatically:

The board#

Open the Organiser tab. Down the left is the Unassigned rail — everyone who isn't in a group yet. To the right, a card for each of your groups showing its members, how many it has, and the age range inside it. Each young person's card shows their age, so you can see at a glance whether a Six is skewing old or young.

Moving someone is a drag and a drop. On a phone, tap their card instead and pick the destination from the list that slides up.

Every move saves instantly — there's no Save button to forget. If you change your mind, click Undo on the confirmation that pops up, or press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac). Undo works for moves, role changes and auto-balance, all the way back through your session.

Creating your groups#

First visit with no groups yet? The organiser suggests names to get you started — traditional Six colours for Cubs, patrol animals for Scouts. Tick the ones you want, add your own, and create them all in one go.

After that, the New Six / New Patrol button in the toolbar (named for your section) adds another group, and the menu on each group card lets you Rename or Delete it. Renaming keeps everyone in place under the new name. Deleting a group doesn't remove anyone from your section — its members simply move back to Unassigned.

You can also manage your names any time on the Names tab — a simple list where you add, rename or remove groups without touching the board. Renaming there updates everyone's records and their scoreboard history, so past points follow the new name.

Groups named after a colour pick up a matching tint automatically — your Red Six shows a soft red icon on its card.

Assigning roles#

Open the menu on a young person's card to make them a Sixer, Seconder, Patrol Leader or Assistant Patrol Leader (depending on the section). Role-holders get a chip on their card and sort to the top of their group.

Each group has one of each role. If you promote a new Sixer while the Six already has one, the previous holder steps down automatically — no need to clear them first. Undo restores both if you didn't mean it.

Auto-balance#

Click Auto-balance in the toolbar when the numbers have drifted. Two ways to run it:

Either way you see a preview first: exactly who would move where, and what each group's numbers would look like afterwards. Nothing changes until you apply it — and one Undo puts everyone back if the result isn't right.

Printing a handout#

Click Print for a clean one-page sheet listing every group with its members and role-holders — made for the noticeboard or the back of the programme folder. The on-screen board, buttons and menus are left out automatically.

Keeping score#

Lots of groups run a friendly points competition between their Sixes or Patrols — tidiest corner, best team game, most badges earned. The Scoreboard tab keeps a running tally for you, all term long.

Adding points#

Click Add points and choose who they're for:

• A whole patrol — pick one, or several at once (handy for giving everyone two points for turning up).
• A member — pick a young person; their points are added to their patrol's total as well as their own.

Set the number with the plus and minus buttons or the quick +1 / +5 / +10 chips, switch to Deduct if you're taking points away, and add a short reason if you like (there are one-tap chips for the usual ones). Points are added for today by default, but you can pick an earlier date if you're catching up after the event.

Choosing what the board shows#

The dropdown at the top switches between This term, This year and All time, so you can crown a winner at the end of term without ever losing the running history. Below the board, Top scouts shows a personal leaderboard, and Recent awards lists the latest points — tap the arrow next to any one to undo it if you tapped the wrong team.

Scoring during an event#

Open any event and you'll find an Award patrol points button. It opens the same form, already linked to that event, so you can hand out points on the night and see them tallied by event later.

On the Hut TV#

If you run a hut display screen, switch on the Patrol scoreboard card in its settings to put the current term's standings up on the big screen. It shows team totals only — never individual children's names — so it's safe for a public wall.

What's next#

• Managing Your Member List — searching, filtering, and bulk actions on the Members page.
• Editing Member Information — updating one young person's record by hand.
• Tidying Member Data with the Tools Page — the other helpers that live on the Tools page.