Girlguiding - New Programme - Leaders, how much are you sticking to the 'rules'?

[BethCunningham]

I'm a Rainbow leader (a new one, so hadn't got going with the old programme so launched straight in with the new last term). I would love to know how you are REALLY running the new programme:

LONG STORY/BACKGROUND (Scroll to the end for just the question!!)

I picked a theme and an associated interest badge. My girls do not self choose to do what they want as suggested - i could never managed co-ordinating them all doing different things!

I put the 5 activities from the staged badge into the term programme, i also put 2 of the interest badge projects into the term plan. The rest i filled with some of the activities from the 'activity packs' but only the ones i felt would work for my group and then invented my own activities/trips etc to fill the rest of the slots.

With the staged badges i adapt/change the activities to better suit my group (there is a lot of reading/writing required which isn't helpful for a group who do not yet read and write!! so i make them art or discussion based or invent a game on the theme etc)

My girls are all desperate to earn lots of badges, with the best will in the world 5-7 year olds will not be able to complete interest badges without major parental input. so i do two in session and send out a sheet with the 3rd activity for them to do at home to earn the badge so all girls have an opportunity to complete it.

So at the end of each term, if they have completed the 'homework' activity they will earn their stage, interest and the theme award. so over their 2 years they will be able to earn their 'gold' award.

They will also earn their badge if they have missed one session, unless they have a lot of absence i don't 'penalise' them for missing a session. always keeping in mind they are 5-7 years old! I appreciate older girls will understand better the consequences of missing sessions!

SHORT STORY:
I assumed that this was the natural way to use the programme - changing and adapting and basing off the theme to suit me and my group. However i was at a regional training and people were chatting about how they felt bad leaving one girl out of the badges as she had missed one session, that they found the activities restrictive and not right for their group yet they had to make the girls do it, that they were having 7 or 8 activities running in a session as the girls had selected their own badges/themes, that they were struggling to get the allotted 'activity time' required for the badges into each term etc.

I sat very quietly but felt totally bemused! I assumed what i was doing was sensible and the right thing but perhaps i have interpretted it wrong and i am supposed to stick to the letter of the guidance?!

So i thought i would ask here where people can share anonymously - how are you running the new programme?! Am I doing it all wrong?!

anyone?

We're only starting the new programme this term "in earnest" this term so I don't have much to report on using it so far.

Other than: letting all the girls choose their skill builders and running 7-8 activities sounds like those guiders haven't read the new programme e-learning training on Go . It specifically says that's not a good idea and to only run as many as your unit can support.

We're starting out with 2 skills builders and planning them into 5 sessions, however I'm a Brownie leader and having 20+ Brownies doing some of those activities didn't look scalable which is why. We're also going to set aside 2 "catch up" sessions for those who miss things - That's worked in the past for us with unit interest badges so we'll see.

I will be adapting one of the activities of one of the skill builders we are doing this term - the way it was constructed only makes sense with small numbers e.g 6, not 12 - 15! However our training was pragmatic about things like this and adapting to circumstances.

Currently we are following the party line of "Interest badges at home", although I have already adapted one for a girl who didn't have access to some of the equipment needed and I may have to provide guidance for another badge. I'm only expecting the really keen to do them though.

I'm also a rainbow leader and not a fan of the new programme. We also don't allow them to self select, although we do let the older rainbows choose the theme for their POG party.

I find the new programme way too prescriptive, I'm having to re-write many of the activities as they are unsuitable for the age group/too worthy/boring or too much like school. They've clearly been written by well-meaning educationists or psychologists who have never run a rainbow group.

Having spent all that money though, they are clearly not going to change everything, so its a case of - feed back, then just adapt the activity to what works for your unit.

To add, my DD goes to the adjoining Rainbow unit, they weren't allowed to select the skill builder at all (in fact my DD isn't really aware of a new programme as such, she's too young, most of my Brownies are finding it hard to get the concept which is why we let them choose 2 from a shortlist of 3!)
It'll be interesting to see how they get on.

We're just starting our second term with the new program. We didn't have all the skills builders so we chose one last term and used the 5 linked activities. They all worked well, some better than others, but I liked the fact that you can just pick them up and run with them with minimal prep. We also chose the unit meeting activities for the girls - these were less enjoyable. This term we have more skills builders to choose from so we're going to ask the group what they enjoyed / didn't enjoy last term and give them a small selection of skills builders to choose one from.

We're also going with interest badges being done at home but we are very aware that not all children have the same opportunities outside Rainbows, so we'll decide how to deal with any issues as they arise.

We also build in a bit of time within sessions to catch up anything Rainbows have missed through absence. We've only had to do this once, we have 3 leaders and a small group at the mo so it was easy to manage. In future we may have to dedicate one or 2 full sessions to catch-up and we envisage having several different activities happening at once. We've also considered having one session per term just for leaders to get everything up to date on Go but we're not at that stage yet.

I wouldn't dream of leaving a girl out for missing one session and whatever we do, we do it as a group otherwise what's the point? Occasionally we run a few different craft activities that are done in rotation but that's usually at Christmas / Easter etc and would be one of our self-chosen sessions.

Sounds like the leaders you spoke to haven't really understood the new program. I'm not a huge fan of it but ironically I've found some UMAs that are traditional Rainbows games / songs that I've not seen before! It takes a bit to get your head round it but the basic principles are the same - group work that covers every principle of being a Rainbow. You can't just do skills builders or UMAs, they're designed to work in conjunction with each other to achieve a balanced program. I think quite a few Rainbows will miss out on the gold badge because it will take at least 2 full years to achieve it. I've been told that it's something special that should be worked towards, not every girl will reach that stage, and that's how it should be. I disagree!

Thanks for the replies - sounds like i haven't completely got it wrong then!

underneath that is exactly my issue - we run on a friday so they have done a whole week of school and want to play and have fun, not sit and write/learn heavy stuff. I got all the points of the activities covered just in a more craft/game based way than the cards suggested.

I haven't done the training, i'm very rural so hard for me to get to the regional trainings that are run to cover this. scissy from the training you went to, does it sound like i'm 'allowed' to do what i'm doing?

queenie i likewise am aware that girls could feel left out/let down if they dont have the support to complete interest badges, which is why i'm fitting 2 of the 3 required into the programme (girls are welcome to do others at home if they wish but they wont!). I also agree it isn't right that it should be 'hard' to achieve the gold level - regular attendance over your full years for each stage should give you the opportunity to achieve it, which is what i'm scheduling for - all mine will get their gold if they complete 1 homework per term and turn up for the full 2 year.

I can see that the 'choose your own programme' idea is good/better for the older groups but for rainbows it is just overwhelming for them and too big a decision. they get to make smaller decisions about activities which i feel is more age appropriate.

Maybe it is particularly at the rainbow level, where they need more support for activities/writing etc that this causes a problem. it is also only 2 years whereas brownies is 3 etc so more time to complete it.

A catch up session is an interesting idea but i could end up needing to run all 5 main activities on that session if i have a girl missing each week IYSWIM?

I'm a lone leader with just a parent rota to support the group and i have 20 girls - its a lot to manage before having to conform to such restrictions!!

My focus is on making sure the girls have fun, learn stuff, try new things and feel a sense of achievement from it (badges!).

I guess i shall just quietly continue and hope i don't get into trouble?

That's a huge group to run on your own!! Have you asked your DC if there's any leadership support for you? You need to be able to have fun too!

That's a huge group to run on your own!

Agreed! Please remember you're a volunteer. It's supposed to be fun, not a full time job. Our unit has 2 leaders and a trainee, we don't like to rely on parents /careers to help out, and we're introducing the new programme this term. From what i've heard it's very formalised, with a lot less freedom to do your own thing / go off piste.

i know its huge! It was either someone took it on or the unit would close. i did have a unit helper but she's had to step back for health reasons so i'm on my own. i have a couple of semi-regular parent helpers who are great. I love running the group, but only if i can do it 'my way' within reason. i want to run activities than the girls and i enjoy, not just stuck with a prescribed programme. if i have to conform to much i will have to leave as it will suck the fun out of it.

It's a large group but they are lovely girls and we have a great time and i just couldn't let them all down! I have a waiting list too!

The important thing for me is the girls are having fun, learning and the parents are really liking what i'm doing.

I don't have a DC, she left before christmas and the commissioner up from her is quite unappraochable.

I'm hoping to just fly under the radar a bit!

We’ve found the rainbows interest badges manageable at home (lots of ours are doing them a bit too fast really!). I’m finding planning for the skills builders tough, as the timings aren’t always very accurate and I personally found a couple a bit dull. But I have plans to jazz them up/modify to achieve the overall aim in a way more suitable for the girls.

Firstly, as I can't imagine running a Rainbow unit on my own (or at all!).

I am a Guide leader and this is our second term using of the new programme - we decided to get going with it as soon as possible.

There are e-learning trainings available via the Girlguiding website: they are incredibly useful and, together with the new programme notes, really helped to give an overview of all the different elements and how they fit together. I would strongly recommend doing those if you haven't already done so.

The new 'Doing our best' checklists are also very handy - these are available on the website, and there was a poster and some information about these in the last magazine.

My focus is on making sure the girls have fun, learn stuff, try new things and feel a sense of achievement from it (badges!)

Then you're doing it right imo
That's a huge unit to have to run on your own, there are 3 of us (although often 2 for various reasons) + 2 YLs.

My trainer (in terms of delivering UMAs and SBs) gave the advice that adaption to meet the needs of your unit was fine, for example some of the activities might need adapting slightly from as written to meet the needs of girls with mobility issues or another disability - an amount of common sense is required. So adapting activities because your girls can't really read/write would work for that. I confess I haven't seen the rainbow programme at all but to me I imagine it's a very hard age group to generate activities for!