PATROL SYSTEM
The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Guides training differs from that of all other organisations, and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself!
The formation of the girls into Patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Coy.
The Patrol is the unit of Guiding always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty.
An invaluable step in character training is to put responsibility on to the individual. This is immediately gained in appointing a Patrol Leader to responsible command of her Patrol. It is up to her to take hold of and to develop the qualities of each girl in her Patrol. It sounds a big order, but in practice it works.
Then, through emulation and competition between Patrols, you produce a Patrol spirit which is eminently satisfactory, since it raises the tone among the girls and develops a higher standard of efficiency all round. Each girl in the Patrol realises that she is in herself a responsible unit and that the honour of her group depends in some degree on her own ability in playing the game.