Guides
       
       
       
What do Guides do?
Being a Guide is all about learning new skills, making your own decisions and having fun. Guiding provides a safe environment to explore new possibilities and achieve personal goals while making friends and having adventures. And it’s up to each Guide to work out which opportunities are relevant for her, whether it’s improving her football skills, party planning or learning about independent living.

  • Guides work together in Patrols. They elect their own Patrol Leader and are encouraged to plan their own activities. Patrols provide a ready-made group of friends and helps the girls to feel that they belong to something special.
  • Any girl aged ten to 14 who wishes to, can become a Guide.
  • Each Guide chooses the top she wants to wear from the options available in the Guide wear collection. This choice allows Guides to be themselves but also makes them feel part of the unit.
  • The Guide Promise is: I promise that I will do my best: To love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide Law.
  • The Guide Laws are: *A Guide is honest, reliable and can be trusted. *A Guide is helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely. *A Guide faces challenges and learns from her experience. *A Guide is a good friend and a sister to all Guides. *A Guide is polite and considerate. *A Guide respects all living things and takes care of the world around her.




Programme
The Guide programme is structured to enable Guides to participate in activities in five zones. The skill of the Leader is in ensuring that all programme zones are covered over a period of time. Typically, Patrols will use a number of activities from a Go For It! pack for each zone and work their way through these. From time to time, the Leader may spot an opportunity to extend the programme or to help the Guides gain more from an activity by using her own expertise and adding extra dimensions. The five programme zones are:

  • Healthy lifestyles
    To encourage in Guides a healthy lifestyle by promoting physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.
  • Global Awareness
    To increase awareness of global issues and of the contribution each Guide can make.
  • Skills and Relationships
    To develop Guides’ self-confidence and self-worth and to improve their interpersonal and life skills.
  • Celebrating Diversity
    To promote in Guides active citizenship and to develop their awareness of rights and responsibilities for all.
  • Discovery
    To challenge Guides with new experiences and adventure.

    More information about the Guide programme can be found here
Guide Interest Badges
Interest badges are a part of the Patrol and unit programmes and allow a Guide to pursue and develop a personal interest independently. Interest badges are intended to support the development of individual Guides – but it is possible for a whole Patrol to work towards one together if they wish. The achievement of a high number of badges is not in itself an indicator of a highly successful Guide unit.

The syllabuses for the Guide interest badges can be found here.



Baden-Powell Challenge Award
The Baden-Powell Challenge is the ultimate achievement for a Guide. It is for Guides who wish to stretch themselves as individuals to achieve the very best that they can. It is not about achieving a set standard, nor is it about being academically able. Any Guide who has made her Promise, completed as least two Guide Challenge badges and gained two interest badges, may start the Baden-Powell Challenge.

10 challenges
A guide must complete ten challenges of her choice, at least one of which should be from each of the programme zones of Discovery, Healthy lifestyles, Celebrating diversity, Global awareness and Skills and relationships.

Baden-Powell Adventure
After completing the ten challenges the Guide can participate in a Baden-Powell Adventure. This is normally a residential event organised at Division, County, Country/Region or Association level.

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