Discover Award

This page contains the complete (and rather complex) details about the Discover Award Scheme that Company Section members and Seniors work towards achieving at Boys’ Brigade.

A brief and more simple explanation about what the Discover Award Scheme is and the awards that can be achieved can be found here.

How does the points system work?

You will gain 1 point for each hour spent taking part in an activity on your chosen topic. However, no more than 4 points can be gained for any one topic in a session (Winter session: Sept-Dec, Spring session: Jan-May, Summer session: Jun-Aug).

The table below shows how many points you need to accumulate in each Zone in order to achieve the badge or improve your badge level by one. Each Zone has a number of Subzones and you will need at least one point in each Subzone to qualify. There are plenty of Free Choices in each Zone so you can choose your favourite activities from any Subzone and work on them more often.

Which activities can I choose?

Within certain practical limitations, you are free to choose anything you’re interested in. You can choose the activities that you feel are most relevant for yourself, your skills and abilities from the Discover Programme Wheel shown here. Click on the image of the Wheel below to see a larger version which you can zoom in on and read clearly.

The three Zones are colour coded to match the badges at the centre of the wheel with the Subzones shown in dark orange/red around that. The lighter orange/yellow ring list Sectors within each Subzone and at the edge of the wheel in light blue are the Activities which fall within each Sector, Subzone and Zone respectively. Christian Faith activities are listed in red and do not have a separate Subzone listed on the Wheel

However, the activities that will form the programme have to cover the interests of the entire group. Leaders will work with the Company Section to ensure that everyone gets a say and that a fair and varied programme of activities is developed. This may mean you have to take part in an activity you are not that interested in, but others may feel the same way about the activities you want to do. We do expect everyone to take part in all the activities so that the group benefits and enjoys the things we do together.

Can I create my own activities?

Yes, we are open to suggestions and ideas for new activities which are not contained within the Discover Programme. If you can think of something which reflects the objectives of the Zone and has the potential to teach new skills, improve your knowledge of life and the world, or is just good fun, then we would like to hear your ideas. If we think the idea has merit we will help you to develop an Activity Plan which may involve defining an objective or target for the group.

Please note that creating your own activity does not mean you can suggest we sit around playing computer games or playing football all evening. The Discover programme is all about experiencing a wide variety of interesting and challenging activities which are fun and learning some new things along the way.