Managing Awards
Late Joiners
Young people should participate in activities appropriate to their age and ability. Ideally, a new member would join in with their peer group on the activity currently being worked towards, but would gain the first of the Core Activity Awards (I.e. Bronze) and work through these in order.
Wearing the Awards
The awards are metal with a pin-on fastening. The awards are placed on the armband as set out below. When members move up to the next age group, they carry the highest core award gained up to the next age group and continue to wear that on their armband. Members would also continue to wear any staged awards to Seniors, as these can be worked on in both age groups.
Right Armband Layout
There are four rows on the right Company armband:
Row 1 – Service Badge (left), Company Membership Award (centralised), Nights Away Award (right)
Row 2 – Company Core Activity Awards (centralised)
Row 3 – Staged Awards (centralised)
Row 4 – Highest Anchors Activity Award, Highest Juniors Activity Award (left), Special Anniversary/Event or Recruitment Badge (right).
On the right armband a maximum of two Special Anniversary/Event or Recruitment Badges may be worn alongside the highest Anchors and Juniors Activity Awards on row 4.
Left Armband Layout
There is one row on the left Company armband:
Row 1 – Discovery Badge (centralised)
Armband examples above shows ALL awards/badges which can be obtained during a member’s time in Company based on joining at age 11/12 and going through until end of session in which they attain their 14th birthday. It shows them completing all the core Activity Awards and Staged Awards. Also shown on the right armband is the Company Membership Award, 7 year Service Badge and the World War 1 Award Badge.
Presenting Awards
Some Companies present awards as soon as they are gained; others choose to present them at a parents’ or awards night or at a Church Parade service. Leaders should remember that the award scheme is planned to cover the three years that a young person is in the Company age group and only one of the Activity Awards (bronze, silver, gold) should be presented in any single session.
Record Keeping
You can keep track of progress with awards for all members using the functionality within Online Brigade Manager, from there you can record completion of individual activities and the system will let you know when an award is due. Parents/Carers and other leaders can also view the badge progress through OBM.
Alternatively, you can download a record card template which can be printed out and used to record progress.
Download Company Record Card
Transitioning from Discover Programme
It is recommended that leaders make the transition from the Discover Awards to the new Seniors Awards at the end or beginning of a session. Awards for the Discover programme will continue to be stocked by BB Supplies to allow for a transition over a 2-year period.
You may decide to present the new awards to everyone straight away or you might decide to only present the new awards to those starting out in Company, with existing members continuing to receive the Discover programme awards until they move to the next age group. The decision is for the Company to make, based on what works best for them.
We have mapped across the existing awards from the Discover Programme to show how these fit into the new Company Programme.
In mapping across the awards, this is done based on the time a young person started their journey in the age group. So if a young person journeys all the way through the Company age group this would mean they would be working towards Level 3 of the Discover Programme in their final year, but it maybe that late joiners are only working towards levels 1 or 2 depending on their time in the Company. The table below shows the conversion for young people that have been in the age group all the way through, but essentially, for each session they are in the Company age group and have completed a level of Community, Recreation & Skills Awards this would convert into a single award in the new Seniors Programme (I.e. Bronze, Silver and Gold). Remember only a single level (Discover Programme) or single award (new Company Programme) can be gained in any one session.
Where young people have unequal levels (i.e Community Level 4, Recreation Level 4, Skills Level 3), then the young person should do what is required to complete a consistent level across Community, Recreation and Skills Awards (I.e. Level 4).