Hello from 2nd Scullin Guides!
There are 19 girls, aged 10 to 14 years and two adult leaders in 2nd Scullin
Guide Unit at the moment. We live in Canberra, the capital city of
Australia which is a really great place to live. Canberra is a city of
about 300,000 people and it has the advantages of a big city, while still
being small enough for everything to be conveniently located. We are
surrounded by bushland and national parks and have lots of great recreation
areas. We are about 1 and a half hours drive from the east coast, and about
3 and a half hours from Sydney by road.
We have our Guide meetings for two hours one evening per week during school
terms and we also do activities on weekends whenever we have the time. Some
of the activities we enjoy in 2nd Scullin are indoor and outdoor cooking,
games, crafts, wide-games, challenges, camping, sleep-overs, indoor rock
climbing, abseiling, walking, swimming, canoeing, cycling, skating, drama,
singing, badge work, service projects and learning useful Guiding skills
like knotting, compass and first aid to help us with camping and other
activities.
Australian Guides use the Patrol System as first set out by Lord Baden
Powell when he started Scouting and Guiding about 90 years ago. We have 4
patrols in 2nd Scullin and there are normally between 4 and 6 girls in each
patrol. Patrols are usually named after Australian animals, birds or
flowers. In our Unit the Patrols are called Wattle (our National Floral
Emblem), Rosella (a beautifully coloured native parrot), Platypus and Koala
(native animals). Each Patrol has a Patrol Leader (PL) who organises
activities for the Patrol and helps the girls with their badge work. The
Patrol Leader is elected by the girls, and she chooses a Patrol Second (2nd)
to help her. We hold elections once every year, or when a Patrol Leader leaves.
In Australia Guides have traditionally been divided into several sections
called Gumnut Guides (6 to 7 years), Brownie Guides (7 to 10 years), Guides
(10 to 14 years), Ranger Guides 14 to 17 years), Junior Leaders (also 14 to
17 years) and Rangers (17 to 25 years). Since July 1996 we have had some
major changes. Now, instead of being the Girl Guides Association of
Australia, we are simply called Guides Australia. Also, the traditional
names of the sections have been replaced simply by the name "Guides". So
now you might have a group of Guides aged 7 to 10 years, or a group of
Guides aged 14 to 17 years. The age groupings can vary according to the
needs and interests of the girls involved, so it may be possible to have a
group of girls aged 10 to 11 years only, or a group of girls aged 10 to 18
years if numbers were very low in that particular area. The most important
thing to be considered in every group is that the developmental needs of all
ages are being met by the Guide program. Our new program is very flexible
and is offering us some exciting opportunities which we are looking forward
to exploring.
If you would like to contact us we would love to hear from you! Please
email us at2nd Scullin
Guides