Rainbows and Brownies strike gold in award presentation

A number of Rainbows and Brownies from the 3rd Gibraltar units were recently presented with their Gold Section Awards, the highest award achievable in their section.

The activities in the Girlguiding programme support every girl to develop in line with the Girlguiding educational framework and have been designed to support five key elements, known as ‘The Five Essentials’.

The current format of the Girlguiding programme for all sections was introduced in 2018 where all the activities and badges are organised under the same six themes in every section, from Rainbows to Rangers; and is the foundation of what girls do in Guiding developing as they grow. There’s a huge range of activities to try, plenty of badges to earn and loads of ways to develop new skills.

During the course of their Girlguiding journey girls are encouraged to complete each of the six themes for each section by completing a combination of unit meeting activities, interest badge and skills builders on the same theme that demonstrate the time they’ve dedicated to exploring that area.

The top section awards are Bronze, Silver and Gold. To achieve the Bronze Award, a girl needs to complete any two Theme awards from her current section. For the Silver Award, a girl needs to complete any four Theme awards from her current section.
The section Gold award is the most challenging of all the section awards. To complete the section Gold Award a girl needs to earn all six Theme awards from her current section and they also have to undertake one final extra challenge to earn this very special top award.

The Rainbows receiving their Gold section award were Amelia Cano, Isabella Montegriffo, Lena Easter and Megan Bautista. The recipients of the of the Brownie Gold section award were Amelie Piñero, Chloe Mercieca, Hayley Holmes, Isabella Fernandez, Janet Billups, Maddie Roberts and Sophie Cano.

“My favourite bit was the caring for animals badge” said Isabella. “I loved being in charge of a meeting” said Janet. All girls have thoroughly enjoyed their challenges enthusiastically confirming they will be going for Gold in Brownies and Guides too.
“There’s even a Vlogging Badge to do in Guides, we definitely want to try that” said Sophie and Maddie.

3rd Gibraltar Brownie Leader Francesca Cano said: “I am incredibly proud of all the girls receiving their GOLD section awards.

They have demonstrated immense dedication and reserve to complete all six Theme awards plus their respective final Gold challenges. With all the Covid restrictions in place over the last twelve months+ the girls have continued to attend virtual meetings on a weekly basis, as well as completing numerous activities at home or in small, socially distanced settings.”

“The four Rainbows and Maddie and Sophie in particular have also juggled the transition period whilst the new format of the Girlguiding programme was introduced; that meant there were additional challenges and activities for them to fulfil to meet the Gold section award requirements. Although Amelia, Isabella, Lena, Maddie, Megan and Sophie completed their Gold section awards last summer we have not been in a position to present their awards until now so it has been an absolute pleasure to have our Deputy Commissioner for Girlguiding Gibraltar, Claire Montado, present these awards at our Brownie premises in Alameda. We wish all the girls our very best as they move up to Brownies, Guides and onwards.”

For more information about Girlguiding Gibraltar or to find out about volunteering with Girlguiding, visit our facebook page.