The Company Section is the next stage up from Junior Section for boys aged 12-18 (Years 7-13) which takes place on Thursday evenings from 7:15pm till 9:30pm. The Company Section sees boys through their adolescence and provides opportunities for a range of new challenges to suit the growing maturity and skills of the boys.   Many of the activities offered by the Company Section are very practical based and prepares the lads with skills that maybe needed in later life. Many of these activities very much step up from that of the Junior Section with things like Expeditions, Physical Recreation, learning about problems in the Community, First Aid and chances to participate in a range of activities like Kayaking, Archery, Weekend Camps and Awards schemes like The Duke of Edinburgh Award.   The Company Section itself is split up into two parts with the younger boys called the Company Section and the older lads (Year 10 onwards) are known as the Seniors. The younger lads very much focus on badgework which will enable them to eventually gain their President's Award. This is gained by doing activities in the following areas: Community, Recreation and Skills. The system is explained below. The Company Section lads will begin to experience a level of responsibility by helping to run activities where our Boys' Brigade is involved and contributing time to participate in events.

The Seniors are the older lads who have completed or very nearly completed their President's Award. At Senior level, the lads begin to take on a leading role in areas of our Boys' Brigade and take a lot of responsibility in the running of the Company and sometimes Junior Section. Such responsibilities held by the Seniors for example are the design and running of the Newsletter, taking photos for our Brigade and designing and updating our website. There are awards offered by the Boys' Brigade, such as the Queen's Badge and the Challenge Plus Programme, which give the Seniors a chance to develop their role within the Boys' Brigade and learn vital leadership skills aimed very much at their age group. At Senior level, there are also opportunities to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The Seniors will also play a vital role in helping the younger lads get through their award schemes and being part of leadership meetings to organise events coming up.

Aside from these differences, both parts of the Company Section often work together to help arrange and take part in activities which our Brigade is involved in. We often take part in activities as a group and will help in various fundraising schemes to help local causes. A favourite activity for all the Company Section is Weekend Camp where the lads can participate in mini-expeditions, play sports and games and visit the various local attractions as group. The Company Section as a whole also has a chance to have a say with what activities they want to participate in and things they would like to see in terms of how the Company is run.

 

The Discover Award Programme
The Discover Award Programme was introduced in August 2007 replacing the previous 'Get the Credit' scheme. It is the award programme followed by the Company Section and is split into the following three sections:

 

 

Each of these three topics are split up into sub topics which members should spend half an hour on each to gain one point in that area, as shown below:

 

Section	Sub Topics	Points able to gain (1 point = One Hour)	Points available and amount to gain
Community	Christian Faith International Local and National Nature and the Environment	1 point mininum 1 point mininum 1 point mininum 1 point mininum	7 points available in total 3 free choice points
Recreation	Christian Faith Outdoor and Adventure Sports and Games Health and Lifestyle	1 point mininum 1 point mininum 1 point mininum 1 point mininum	10 points available in total 6 free choice points
Skills	Christian Faith Creativity Interests Life skills	1 point mininum 1 point mininum 1 point mininum 1 point mininum	7 points available in total 3 free choice points

 

For this award programme, each of the sections have 4 levels. To gain a level, all 24 points must have been gained from the sections (10 from Recreation and 7 from Community and Skills each). 1 point is needed for each of the sub topics, the points that are left over which are needed to get the maximum points in a section can be gained from doing extra time in any of the sub topics in that section. 1 point equals half an hour and only 1 badge from each section can be gained within a 12 month period. If you went over the required amount of time to reach the maximum points in a section, this extra time you spent will not be carried over for the next level.

 

As you do the Discover Programme, you can achieve other badges as well:

 

Award	What you need to achieve this award
Compass Badge	Usually awarded in the first year of the programme 6 points are needed to gain this badge (2 points from Community, Recreation and Skills each.
Discovery Badge	Usually awarded in the second year of the programme A boy needs to have: •  Taken part in a residential experience. •  Had an active role in a Company or Battalion event or church service. •  Completed at least 30 points from the Discover programme having gained three badges in the last 12 months. •  Had good attendance for one session.
The President's Award	Usually awarded at the end of the fourth year of the programme A boy needs to have: •  Completed a Christian faith development course. •  Have good attendance for 1 session. •  Be recommended by the Company Captain •  Participate in a non-residential teamwork skills experience run by Battalion, District or Region. and Either  Route A • Completed at least 30 points from the Discover programme, having gained three badges in the last 12 months • Taken part in an activity based residential event within the BB • Complete 10 hours of practical service for the Brigade or church Or - Route B Gained Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

 

To get an idea of the types of activities you can choose to take park in, download the Discover Programme Wheel below which will give you more information.

 

		Discover Programme Wheel