BECOMING A LEADER
Council Policies and Procedures
National Policies and Guidelines
Safety-Wise
Your resource book of guidelines for seeing that all activities are planned and carried out so as to safeguard the health, safety, and general well-being of the participants. You must adhere to the guidelines for activities and leadership in Safety-Wise. This book should be the first thing you check when planning any activity with your Troop.
Part 1: Safety and the Girl Scout Group
- Responsibility for Safety
Group Leadership
Group Planning and Budgeting
Basic Safety Guidelines
Planning Trips with Girl Scouts
Part 2: Girl Scout Program Standards and Activity Checkpoints
Girl Scout Program Standard
"35 Program Standards that describe the basic philosophy of the Girl Scout program and the basic levels of health and safety that must be provided to girls. Every Girl Scout adult who is involved with girls, either directly or indirectly, must be familiar with these standards."Activity Checkpoints
"The checkpoints in this book guide the planning and implementation of specific activities. They represent the basic minimums to follow; they are not all-inclusive. They are the extensions of the basic safety guidelines and Program Standards in the preceding chapters and are also starting points for investigating resources with more in-depth information.Three-Step Process
The process of preparing for an activity is organized into three steps:
In Step 1, the leader reads the planning checkpoints that are universally applied to all activities. They are general checkpoints that are considered before girls do any activity in Girl Scouting. See pages
In Step 2, the leader reads the activity checkpoints that appear at the beginning of the chapter containing the activity that girls are planning. These activity check points appear on pages 84, 94, and 112. They are general safety considerations that a leader always follows whenever the group does a particular type of activity such as camping, water sports, or land sports.
In Step 3, the leader studies the activity checkpoints for the particular activity of interest.
For example, a troop of Junior Girl Scouts would like to go ice skating. Their leader, having had council leadership training, reads the universal checkpoints on pages 81—83 and picks out items applicable to ice skating. She then turns to page 94 and reads the Step 2 checkpoints for Land Sports, and then turn to the specifics under Ice Skating. Therefore, before beginning any activity, the leader must:
Be familiar with all Program Standards and related guidelines.
Review Steps 1, 2, and 3 in the activity checkpoints.
Obtain written permission from parents or guardians, if necessary.
Obtain council permission, if necessary.
Refer to the Girl Scouts of the USA program resources for guidance. The handbooks for girls, leaders’ guides, and other supplemental resources contain activities carefully designed to bring the best possible experiences to girls."
