Unit guiding
Download this
page as a PDF
Young members are grouped by age into four sections:
Rainbow
Guides, Brownie
Guides, Guides
and the Senior
Section.
The term ‘Guides’ is sometimes used to refer to all sections.
Girls and young women become members from attending their second
meeting.
| Section |
Minimum joining age |
Normal age for transfer
to next section* |
Recommended time for a
girl to spend in each section |
| Rainbow Guide |
Fifth birthday (fourth birthday in Northern Ireland only). |
Between her seventh birthday and seven years six months. |
Two years (three years in Northern Ireland only). |
| Brownie Guide |
Seventh birthday |
Between her 10th and 11th birthdays. |
Three years |
| Guide |
10th birthday |
Between her 14th and 16th birthdays. |
Four years. |
| Senior Section (including Rangers, Young Leaders and any other
groups of members aged between 14 and 26) |
14th birthday |
26th birthday. |
|
*The age of transfer is flexible. A girl moves on to the next
section when she:
- has reached the minimum age for entry into the new section
- has found out about the new section and the unit to which she
is moving
- feels ready and happy to make the transfer.
The unit
‘Unit’ is the name given to a group of Rainbow Guides, Brownie
Guides, Guides or Senior Section members and their respective
Leaders.
Each unit is registered with Girlguiding UK and receives a
registration certificate in the name of the unit.
Most units are open to any girl who wishes to join. Some are
sponsored by a certain body such as a religious community, hospital
or school, but have no restrictions on membership.
A very few ‘closed sponsored units’ restrict membership to a
certain group, for example units in residential schools (see also
sponsored and open units).
Girlguiding UK endeavours to ensure that there are enough open
units in an area to enable all girls to become members, regardless
of their faith or of the school they attend. In places where there
can only be one unit, it should be open to all girls and young
women, willing to make the Promise, who wish to join it.
In addition, guiding can sometimes be offered via the Lone
Guiding Scheme (see also Lone guiding), Joint Units or Joint Groups (see
also joint units and joint groups).
The adults working with a unit are called the Leadership Team.
This team normally includes the Unit Leader and Assistant
Leader(s). There may also be Young Leaders, Unit Helpers and
occasional helpers, for example parents or Trefoil Guild
members.
See also: 'Unit Roles', and ‘Flexible guiding’ for more information about
the leadership team.
Flexible
guiding
‘Flexible guiding’ (see also Flexible guiding) describes ways in which Leaders
can adapt guiding to suit local circumstances. Being flexible
ensures that girls and young women can have guiding opportunities
in areas where a ‘one size fits all’ approach would mean that
guiding could not exist.
Adult to child
ratios
Girlguiding UK suggests adult to child ratios (see Adult to child ratios) for normal unit meetings
within the usual meeting place. Unit Leadership Teams are not
obliged to follow them, apart from the mandatory requirement for
two adults at all Rainbow unit meetings. The Leadership Team’s
decision regarding the number of girls and young women in the unit
is final.
The ratios become mandatory when:
- taking the unit members out of the normal meeting place
- undertaking certain activities (see the A-Z of activities).
A unit meeting may be held without a qualified Leader being
present at the discretion of the Commissioner, provided that in all
other respects the requirements for holding meetings are satisfied
and that it is only on a one-off or temporary basis.
Only in exceptional circumstances should there only be one adult
running the unit (except Rainbow units where there must always be
two adults). If necessary a rota of parents and other volunteers
should be formed to provide extra support for the Leaders and to
ensure that there is a minimum of two adults at each unit meeting.
Volunteers on a rota do not need to complete criminal record
Disclosure or reference checks, but any volunteers who have not
done so must not be left unsupervised with girls and young
women.
Page last updated: 1/13/2012