Guiders Staff Room Part 3

I didn't think the new programme officially started until 2018-2019, so a while yet.

I have a big box of interest badges and will be using them up: they were paid for by the girls as part of their subs. I will offer them as individual challenges while running the new programme in meetings.

Your leader can add you Liz

By all accounts the entire programme week be changed, adventure badges, interest badges, the lot. But information is woolley to day the least. My unit have made it clear that whatever happens they want to gain all three adventure ones, even if I unofficially run them parallel to the new programme. Girl lead, right?

I've taken a challenge badge, and turned it into a challenge for them to complete over the next two weeks at home. It's all about exploring their promise, and I thought what better way than to live it through my kindness challenge bingo sheet 😁

There is a revamp of the badge programme which means that there will be new interest badges all round, I believe, but as usual with these things in Guiding it will not be immediately, nor will it be when they say it will be, so definitely worth knowing about interest badges for the time being!

Thanks drspouse, that's very useful. Are the Brownie square interest badges being stopped though do you know?

I have asked to join that group but don't have any guiding pictures to put up &my profile is private anyway. I see our leader is a member though

Land The Chocolate interest badge is a Guide interest badge - there isn't an equivalent for Brownies I'm afraid!

There are also Challenge badges put out by individual units (vary from very good and challenging, to not really worth the free download cost and mainly fairies and glitter and crafts you could think up yourself in 5 minutes), and by levels like Counties and Regions. I really like Region challenges as there's been a lot more work put into some of them you can tell and it's not just the same old ideas again.

Finally apart from the Interest badges, GirlGuiding has periodic challenges e.g. on Olympics, Politics etc. etc.

Great, thank you very much for the info. Will take a look and tell Brown Owl. The girls have been told that the current square interest badges are changing - do you know anything about that? Since Christmas our Brownies have only able to work for badges that are in the badge box (not the greatest selection!), nothing else.

They're semi-official challenge badges Land0r (you have to ask to join the fb group). They're made by units as fundraisers and there are some great activities.

Hi. I am a parent helper at Brownies rather than a proper Leader, so I hope it's OK for me to post. Just wondering about all the badges I've read about in this thread - chocolate badge etc. (Sounds great!) Are these new badges for all, or unit/area specific ones?

(And it was a bit annoying about the camp fees. Camp is in June - joint camp - but there was an early bird price if you booked by Feb. But my girls' parents really won't/can't pay the whole cost of camp in Feb for a June camp so I had to take deposits in Jan and the rest has partly come in already and partly due in May).

We collect it through subs but we don't have the whole amount in the bank account as surplus for the entire year. Also, a subs rise is overdue, and we are in the unusual position of all parents paying monthly which means we don't have one full term's subs in January going in followed by the census going out in March - we have 1/2 a term's subs in the account already by the time the bill comes through (possibly 3/4 if they all pay on time and the bill is later in March like this year). But we still have 25% of this term's subs to come in on 1st (ish... for some parents!) April.

I don't see anyone moaning Herat: it's just one of those things: it's a big bill and the only person who has said they re struggling also specified that some parents are overdue with camp payments.

Don't want to be inflammatory, but all you Leaders moaning about the cost of census, and not sure how you are going to pay - don't you collect it from parents? Either as a one off once a year, or term by term as part of subs?

Well now you do... but you are not proposing to run a camp for 6 and 7 year olds based on it so you didn't need to know about it!

Even if it was a war in which both sides were equal and one of them "won fairly", then it's not exactly an appropriate theme! You wouldn't theme a camp round a modern war (WW1 trenches themed camp anyone?) or a modern non-war conflict even if it is a common playground game (they don't play cops and robbers in Reception my DS assures me but you wouldn't have that, nor would you have Zombies which is what they are playing!)

DH has given me a brief history lesson. Was something I knew nothing about sadly.

As I say, it would be celebrating a genocide (and that's leaving aside the whole stereotyped "this is what Indians were like" issue that was a huge other thread that we were discussing a while back).

Yes we're in the north west. I don't understand the cowboys & Indians things. My knowledge is obviously lacking

I'm thinking of doing Clever Cogs next term too! Is it NW Region?

Big sigh moment re DS/Beavers. I'm looking round at groups to put him on a waiting list. One of the local leaders advertised on FB for leather for a Cowboys and Indians camp for crafts and "things to make an Indian Chief outfit".

I subtly asked which group without saying why... it's the one I was already not going to put him down for... my goodness why not have a Nazis and Jews theme instead??! Genocide is not an appropriate pretend theme for 6 year olds!

Thanks Rue. You don't think of all these overheads which need covering. Tonight we're working on the clever clogs badge, it's a special one for international women's day last week, about women in engineering & science. There's going to be spaghetti & marshmallow towers amongst other things.

Circus skills sounds fun.

Fybro- ouch. Would extra spoons help?

I still haven't paid, it is going to have to be April. I do have a box full of cash so if I bank that it might be enough.
Problem is that I wrote a cheque for camp but not all payments have come in.