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  • Young Leaders

  • Notes for Rainbow, Brownie and Guide Unit Leaders

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  • WHAT IS A YOUNG LEADER ?
  • A Young Leader is ...
  • • A girl aged between 14 and 18 years who chooses to work with Rainbows, Brownies or Guides in a Unit.
  • • An enthusiastic member of the Senior Section who has chosen to work on Leadership in Guiding.
  • • Someone to whom you can delegate areas of responsibility, under your supervision.
  • • Someone who can give more attention to individual Rainbows, Brownies or Guides, or to small groups.
  • • Someone who has fresh ideas for your programme planning.
  • • Someone who needs your support, encouragement and involvement.
  • A Young Leader should be encouraged to work on one of the Girlguiding UK Leadership Schemes, as this will assist her development as a leader and will be a qualification that she can add to her CV later. However, working on a scheme is not compulsory and she may prefer just to help at Unit meetings as part of your Unit Leadership team.
  • WHERE DO YOUNG LEADERS COME FROM ?
  • • Most are recruited from Guide and Senior Section Units and a small number may come from outside Guiding e.g. via their Duke of Edinburgh Award community involvement.
  • • Guide Leaders have a responsibility to raise awareness among their older Guides of what is available to them from the age of 14 years.
  • • Commissioners and Young Leader Leaders have a responsibility to encourage and recruit this age group, for they are our future leaders.
  • HOW DO I RECRUIT YOUNG LEADER ?
  • • Talk to your District / Division Young Leader Leader/Coordinator, District Commissioner and Guide Leaders, who may have a girl who is looking for an opening. District meetings are a good opportunity for this.
  • • If you have a Pack Leader, talk to her about being a Young Leader when she is 14 years old.
  • • Visit your local Guide unit and/or Ranger unit
  • HOW DOES SHE JOIN MY UNIT?
  • The District Commissioner is responsible for assigning a Young Leader to a Unit, in consultation with the Young Leader Leader/Coordinator. If you didn't get your Young Leader in this way, please ensure that your District Commissioner and Young Leader Leader/Coordinator know that you have a Young Leader working in your Unit. All Young Leaders need to be registered, recorded on GO (your DC will help with this) and over 16s must be CRB checked.
  • HOW CAN I HELP MY YOUNG LEADER?
  • A Young Leader is a great asset to your Unit and should be a valued member of your team. Please encourage and support her while she is working with you.
  • You can help her in a number of ways:
  • • Involve her in the Unit's programme planning and listen to her ideas. Allow her to run aspects of the programme as appropriate to her age and experience.
  • • Understand that your Young Leader is a member of the Senior Section and what activities and opportunities are open to her. This information is on the Senior Section CD, which also has full details of the 14-16 Young Leader Qualification. Your DC will have a copy as will your Young Leader Leader/Coordinator.
  • • Discuss the Leadership Scheme clauses she would like to tackle in the near future and help her to fit these into the unit programme. Allow her to use her special skills.
  • • Make sure she knows in advance what you would like her to do in Unit meetings. Encourage her to prepare activities and use what she has learnt and prepared. Be willing to discuss her plans and preparations. Help her to evaluate after the event - what was good and what needed more thought. Praise, encouragement and constructive criticism will develop her leadership skills.
  • • Provide her with materials for activities, or the money to buy them, if she is making equipment. Discuss the need to stick to a budget.
  • • Encourage her to keep a record of what she does and offer her guidance on what to record. She may be daunted at the prospect and will be reassured to hear from you that brief notes are all she needs.
  • • If she is working towards a Leadership Qualification, encourage her to attend District meetings with you and to get involved with the planning and running of District events.
  • • Make Girlguiding publications available to her and also 'Guiding' magazine if she does not have her own copy. Encourage her to keep up-to-date by reading Guiding, the Hampshire West Newsletter and using the local and national websites.
  • • Ensure that she is registered as a Young Leader and is CRB checked if she is 16 or over.
  • vDo not leave her in sole charge of the Unit or girls at any time, give her an unexpected activity or overload her.
  • • Encourage her to keep in touch with her Young Leader Leader/Coordinator and attend Senior Section events and trainings relevant to her leadership development.
  • • Keep her informed of events for her age group at Division, County, Region and National levels. It is better to be told twice than not at all!
  • • Liaise with your District / Division Young Leader Leader/Coordinator and District Commissioner regarding your Young Leader's training and progress.
  • • Finally, get to know your Young Leader as a person - her family circumstances, her school/college commitments, her examination periods, her other interests, her strengths and weaknesses; then you will know what you can realistically expect of her.
  • WHAT DOES SHE WEAR ?
  • A Young Leader wears her own choice from the Senior Section uniform selection, as appropriate to the occasion.
  • WHO PAYS HER ANNUAL SUBSCIPTION FEE?
  • It is the responsibility of your Unit to pay the Association annual subscription for your Young Leader.
  • WHEN DOES SHE MAKE / RENEW HER PROMISE?
  • A Young Leader can make or renew her Promise whenever she feels ready, having first talked it over with a warranted Guider. She may choose to make / renew her Promise with the Unit with which she works or with her Young Leader / Senior Section Group.
  • Young Leaders wear the Senior Section aqua promise badge.
  • Note that a Young Leader must make or renew her Promise in order to complete either Leadership Qualification.
  • WHAT SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE?
  • Although a Young Leader's training does ask a great deal of her Unit Leader, she is also attached to a peer group of Young Leaders under the leadership of a Young Leader (or Senior Section) Leader/Coordinator. The group meets to share ideas, work on other parts of the Look Wider programme and to meet socially. Sometimes there will be additional trainings that your Young Leader may attend. Please encourage her to attend Young Leader group meetings and trainings and be flexible even if this means that she must occasionally miss a Unit meeting.
  • The Young Leader Leader/Coordinator will also be pleased to help you and answer any queries you may have regarding your Young Leader. She may also visit your Young Leader in the Unit from time to time, having first arranged a convenient date & time with you.
  • WHAT LEADERSHIP SCHEMES CAN A YOUNG LEADER WORK ON?
  • There are two Girlguiding leadership schemes open to Young Leaders. You should encourage your Young Leader to work on one of these if possible. Her Young Leader Leader/Coordinator will help her to decide which is most appropriate and probably act as her mentor through the scheme. However she does not have to work on a leadership scheme; it is her choice.
  • Your Young Leader should keep a personal record of activities undertaken and review these as she completes them. She will probably be using the 'Pink Sheets' for the Adult Leadership Qualification or the 'Mauve Sheets' for the Young Leader Qualification and will need to collect evidence to back these up. Evidence can be notes, minutes of meetings, photographs etc - anything that illustrates what she has done. Please help and encourage her to record her progress.
  • The Young Leader Qualification
  • This scheme is designed for the 14 - 16 year age group. It has two modules and there is some overlap with the Adult Leadership scheme. Work done for this scheme can be carried over later to the adult scheme. Full details are on the Senior Section CD. Hampshire West has produced a simplified set of record sheets (the 'mauve sheets') for girls to record their progress. These are available from Young Leader Leaders/Coordinators or from Commissioners. They can also be downloaded from the Hampshire West web site. Girls completing the scheme are awarded a badge and certificate.
  • The Guide Association Leadership Qualification
  • The Leadership Qualification is an introduction to Guiding, leading to the award of a Warrant, a Leadership Qualification Certificate and, where applicable, an Appointment Card. The Qualification is open to any female aged 16+ who wishes to become a leader within the Association.
  • The Leadership Qualification consists of four modules and concentrates on the new leader taking an active role from the very beginning. As with any other candidate for the Leadership Qualification, the Young Leader is assigned a Mentor who will usually be her Young Leader Leader/Coordinator. The Young Leader will receive her 'Pink Sheets' from her mentor or your District Commissioner.
  • WHAT OTHER OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE TO HER ?
  • A Young Leader is a member of the Senior Section and is able to participate in any Senior Section event or activity, in Division, County, Region or Nationally. She is able to pursue any part of the Senior Section programme as she chooses. A Senior Section member is a young woman aged between 14 and 26 (i.e. between her 14th and 26th birthdays).
  • The programme options are described in detail on the Senior Section CD. This is an outline of what is available:
  • • Look Wider - This is a flexible personal development programme that encourages each participant to identify and meet challenges, set and achieve personal goals, gain and share knowledge and develop her skills. It is all about developing self-confidence and learning to cope with the challenges that life has to offer. Look Wider comprises eight key interest areas known as Octants: Out of Doors, International, Independent Living, Fit for Life, Leadership, Creativity, Community Action and Personal Values. Working on the Leadership Qualifications can be used to qualify for the Look Wider leadership octant.
  • • Queen's Guide Award - the ultimate achievement in Guiding.
  • • Senior Section Permits.
  • • Staged Badges.
  • • Duke of Edinburgh's Award
  • • Catering and Health & First Aid Schemes
  • • Outdoor or Music qualifications.
  • • 4 - peer education scheme