What happens if there’s no space in the next section up for girlguiding?

[TheNextSectionTime]

DD will be 7 in the next few months so been thinking about this.

Her Rainbow unit is full, there’s 18 in her group – only 6 of them will be going to Brownies in the next few weeks and months.

So what happens if Brownies is full? There’s 2 units nearby but as they cover a larger age group it’s harder to get into a Brownie Unit than it is Rainbows. I think each group takes up to 25 girls.

Then there’s only one Guide unit and one Rangers unit nearby, so what happens if they’re full? Is there a waiting list? Does DD still get her anniversary badges if she’s not in an active unit due to it being full? How is priority given on the list? To those who did Rainbows or when you joined the list?

It’s a big worry for me as DD will be one of the last Rainbows to leave our unit. And it isn’t the only Rainbow unit locally (I think there’s 3 or 4). And I do know several girls who left Rainbows in the last few months who don’t currently do Brownies due to it being full.

She absolutely loves Rainbows and is very excited to join Brownies (she’s just about to get her Gold Rainbow Award and is excited to try again for Gold in Brownies).

Looks like you're going to have to volunteer to be Brown Owl.

@Willdoitlater

Looks like you're going to have to volunteer to be Brown Owl.

@Willdoitlater I've already said I will volunteer at a section my DD isn't in, as she will just cling to me.

Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that. Not quite the same dynamic if your Mom is in charge.

If there’s no place the there’s no place. They normally go by length of time on waiting lists but there’s no exact rule.

Remember that other brownies will have moved on between your daughters friends moving up and her moving up, and that rainbows can stay beyond 7 up until the end of year 2. Demand for places drops off as they get older (especially between brownies and guides) so you might find 1 guide group is enough

In our area there are wait lists and girls moving up from rainbows to brownies or brownies to guides get preference. However some girls have had to wait but to a year after they 'could' have gone for a space to come up. You just stay in the younger group till there is a space.

@Mumdiva99

In our area there are wait lists and girls moving up from rainbows to brownies or brownies to guides get preference. However some girls have had to wait but to a year after they 'could' have gone for a space to come up. You just stay in the younger group till there is a space.

The girls in my DDs group who have left Rainbows are not at Brownies at all as they're now in Year 3, they've been told they're too old for Rainbows and just have to wait for a space at Brownies.

@GunsNShips

If there’s no place the there’s no place. They normally go by length of time on waiting lists but there’s no exact rule.

Remember that other brownies will have moved on between your daughters friends moving up and her moving up, and that rainbows can stay beyond 7 up until the end of year 2. Demand for places drops off as they get older (especially between brownies and guides) so you might find 1 guide group is enough

So DD may be without a space then as she will finish Year 2 and then have her birthday, I just need to prepare her that there may be a wait for a Brownies place.

So with us we try and prioritise girls who are moving up from the unit below - the best way for this is to get your DD on wait lists as soon as possible - sign up for guides now!!

Nicest possible way it may be you need to volunteer to help. We have heeps of parents who have become Leaders/ occasional unit helpers and after the first couple of weeks the clingy ness goes away!

Other than that you will be placed on a waiting list until a space becomes available. We don't like doing it anymore than you do!

@anxioustoothmonster

So with us we try and prioritise girls who are moving up from the unit below - the best way for this is to get your DD on wait lists as soon as possible - sign up for guides now!!

Nicest possible way it may be you need to volunteer to help. We have heeps of parents who have become Leaders/ occasional unit helpers and after the first couple of weeks the clingy ness goes away!

Other than that you will be placed on a waiting list until a space becomes available. We don't like doing it anymore than you do!

@anxioustoothmonster Wasn't relevant to my thread but DD has a LD, in most ways she's a normal 6 year old but due to the LD she can become clingy. I helped in her classroom pre-covid 1 day a week for an entire term and she still clung to me and cried when I went home, so I'm not comfortable helping in her unit. I'd help in the same age section as long as it's not her unit.

@TheNextSectionTime I didn't realise there was more than one unit by the way you were speaking. Any vounteering will help as it may mean that more spaces open up to ease the pressure of the wait list on one

[quote anxioustoothmonster]@TheNextSectionTime I didn't realise there was more than one unit by the way you were speaking. Any vounteering will help as it may mean that more spaces open up to ease the pressure of the wait list on one [/quote]
@anxioustoothmonster I believe there's 3-4 Rainbows Units, 2 Brownies, 1 Guides and 1 Rangers locally.

Could she join Cubs, the local Cubs has several girls.

As others have said, if there is no space then she will have to wait until there is one.

There is no hard and fast rule for managing waiting lists but generally priority is given to girls who've been Rainbows although there is some opportunity for leader's discretion (in the area where I used to be we had girls who put their names down at age 3 and never got a place at Rainbows, and would not have got a place at Brownies either if I didn't prioritise them and make ex-Rainbows wait for a term.

Guides and Rangers are generally not such an issue as they will often take more girls, and girls tend not to stay so long (IME a good Brownie unit will only lose the odd girl or two each year through reasons other than moving away or getting too old whereas there is a huge exit in Guides as the girls hit secondary school age).

You can also try units out of area - where I live there are some units that are always oversubscribed, but some perfectly lovely units that have spaces, just a bit harder to get to.

Perhaps consider moving your DD to Beavers/Cubs if there is space locally.

My DD couldn't move on from Rainbows to Brownies as there was no space. To be fair, they did offer her a space at a unit a few miles away, but she wanted to go where her friends went, but it was full. Apparently we should have placed her on a waiting list some time before, but nobody had told us this, and I (mistakenly) just assumed that they could stay at Rainbows until a space became available at Brownies, but this wasn't the case.

So DD came to Cubs, where I was a leader. She loved it, and has moved up through the group to Scouts and Explorers, and is now a Young Leader. With the Scout Association, once you're in, you're in, no matter what section you join. So we will do our absolute best to ensure young people can move from Beavers to Cubs to Scouts with no issues, and they can stay in the section they are in a little longer until a space is available in the next section. Priority is always given to scout members before new starters.

While I fully appreciate that Guiding is run by volunteers, I was very frustrated by the way each section seems to be run separately, with very little information given about how to move on to the next section (or at least, this is my experience, perhaps it's not the same for all units)