Guiders Staff Room Part 2

[Groovee]

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/extracurricularr_activities/715087-Guiders-39-staff-room-tea-wine-chat-and-optional-dancing

Part one above, new thread for when required x

Hiya

I'm doing a bit better but rather fed up with trying to sort out stuff with or for guiding people who don't respond to any means of contact.

I just feel like giving up on the whole lot to be honest. It takes a lot of time and planning but if my fellow leaders can't value or respect my time and effort, why bother? At the very least I can stop feeling like an incompetent stalker when I keep my head and hands down at district meetings.

For Brownie leaders, do you have six time? How do you fit it in your meeting? Just pondering different meeting ideas.

We plan a 2-3 weeks in the term where the prepromsie head to one side and the others either spend the 20 or so minutes doing small group work, GFI, planning an activity or sorting Adventure records.

Sometimes we just get them to run the evening

I have 30 brownies (and not really enough commited/warranted leaders but enough to get by with me doing all the planning/prep/paperwork). I have been trying to do a sleepover a term. I can't/don't want to take all 30 (we have some very strong characters) but the number I take varies depending on how many leaders I have available, what we are doing and where we are going (normally village hall type places).
I allocate places to the oldest girls first, so the oldest 15/18/20 get offered places then if they don't want the place I go down the list. (They generally all can go though).
Last term I had a complaint about the unfairness of the system. The girl has been with us for 12 months and has not been invited again to the sleepover. I explained for a number of reasons we are extremely short of leaders for the overnight and that next term they will have moved up the list considerably (losing 6 to guides this time). Parent still cross. It makes me wish I didn't bother giving up my time tbh.
If you don't take all your girls on residential how do you offer places? I've thought about saying first reply slip back to me gets the place, but I know that I see more than half of the families at school each day so they would then have an unfair advantage on those who go to a different school to my children.
How do other big units deal with this situation? Is there a perfect solution that I just can't see (but not doing two sleepovers a term so they can all come with us). I've had so many problems with parents/leaders this term I almost feel like giving the whole thing up. And I've still got the accounts to sort out and my sleepover license stuff to write up (I had to do my license this time as the guider who normally comes with us as license holder has said she can't come with us anymore (fair enough, she is already taking her girls away, it was only my time constraints stopping me in the past), this was another reason I limited numbers this time as we didn't have a license holder only me being tested.

Hope guiding is providing a break for some of you.

I allocated based on who had been to fewest overnights in past, then gave preference to the older ones if it was tied on nights taken.

If you do them frequently could you have a special younger grls sleepover?

You are a saint for doing that many sleepovers. Mum will struggle to find a unit that does anything approaching that many. Maybe suggest she asks other units how they do it so she can have a reality check.

I would possibly start at the top the first time then offer to the ones who haven't been on the previous trip first.

Becles hope you are ok.

Lucysmam hope you are ok.

Just done my invites for brownies. Will deliver later. Need to print off some stuff for our planning meeting on Wednesday.

Oldest Guide has now left along with the ones whose parents were complaining. Can't help feeling a bit paranoid (she was a lovely girl with a lovely mum though and I don't think there's anything related).

Tried to get down to some paperwork tonight but most of it I can't do because I don't know what's happening with the unit and some I had left bits in the hall. Gah.

I'm ok thanks Groovee, one foot in front of the other very slowly :)

I tried to crack on too drspouse but my head's just not in it. Got all sorts of other stuff to do too

If you don't take all your girls on residential how do you offer places?
We offer three unit residentials each year and then any other division/county ones which come up if we have leaders to support them.
Brownie holiday (long weekend which can accommodate most of the pack) is local and offered firstly to those who haven't been on a brownie residential before, then to girls in Y5 (their last chance) then to others 'first come first served'.
Autumn overnight is offered on a first come first served basis to those who have been away with Brownies before. We have never turned anyone down; it's a special trip and quite expensive so we are more likely to struggle to make up numbers for this one. We do state that if we are oversubscribed we'll take older girls first but have never had to do this.
Summer camp: we can accommodate the whole unit.

Did our planning meeting. A very action packed term and 5 new brownies next week.

Hello everyone.

I'm here just to say well done to everyone who is ploughing on (and I feel the pain of anyone who is struggling). I'm in awe of how much you continue to offer the girls, especially the sleepovers. I've now resigned from Guiding. Things changed at home, so I had less time to offer, and I couldn't continue to be the only one doing the admin, shopping and prep. In all the years I was involved, I never managed to find anyone to (say) help with the accounts.

Sorry to hear that Maud x

Well, I was sorry in many ways to resign, but I just couldn't sustain the time commitment that it required. I didn't want to become That Leader - the one that cries off at the last minute - so felt it better to hand over the reins and go.

All the best to everyone gearing up for the new term.

Right - last term's challenge record sheets - tick
Accounts up to May - tick (need something I haven't got to do the June/July/residential accounts.
Leaders for county sleepover that I don't want to go on due to feeling very jaded - sorted
Parents told about sleepover- tick
Can't finish planning due to not knowing which leaders are staying - but have started
Tick list for module I was supposed to be finishing on camp - got- but whether I'll be allowed to do it due to the complaint remains to be seen.

Hooray - camp accounts balance if I add a random amount of the Gift Aid money
One of the other leaders still hasn't decided if she's coming back and we need her specific role for something. I can't do it (time/not enough hands!) and it would be really helpful to know but I don't want to hassle her.

You ok Lucysmam?

We've got next term planned to November. Left it to find a Christmassy challenge for the most few weeks- think we'll be doing Christmas around the world. It looks great fun. Bit odd planning Christmas while sat in the park on a sunny day!

Planned world traveller, partly on the back of the success of the Dutch night, and speaker badge.

Looking at the growing up wild badges, how much would you do on average?

Pack holiday in 8 weeks time ish- Eeek!

Got the bricks to prop up the bbq at outdoor cooking tonight. Our new neighbours looked on in confusion

Outdoor cooking went really well. Girls really enjoyed it. We did vegetable and cheese kebabs, bananas with chic chips and toasted starbursts.

Looks good we're going to be planning next week

Need to get back into the swing of things here!

Have the laptop back now though so should be easier.

I'm a tad concerned that no-one has heard from our new volunteer since locking up the hall after our last meeting. I've emailed and text a couple of times, checked with DC to see if she's heard anything but nada . I just want to know if we have extra hands or not before we go back

Would be good, wouldn't it! I'm just glad my partner in crime is staying. She's just announced they might be relocating next year when her dd3 finishes her GCSEs. Gosh, I'll miss her if she does.

Outdoor cooking sounds great

I'm hiding from dp, his laptop has lost his plans for next term, and all last terms updates re moving on, challenge badge tasks completed, waiting list, everything, and the air is rather blue. (Beaver leader, their waiting list isn't centralised, and it'll be a while-think years- before it is). He's a very grumpy bunny so I'm leaving him to swear!

I've started to save things on g drive as a back up after a computer melt down lost three years worth of work

Productive day today...sort of. I aqcuired what I thought was 12 hi-viz vests from lifewise999 at a local event, just got them out and there are only 11 :(

Now dithering about whether to email them and ask if they might post me a 12th one out so they all match, or just pick one up in the pound shop.

To do list written to start tackling tomorrow too. It's not as bad as I thought. Although the parent of the girl meant to be joining us when we go back is now not responding so looks like I will be picking up an extra one of everything for the first week back and playing the 'wait and see if she comes' game .

Train track mad

We do one or two sleepovers a year where generally everyone who wants to can come (a big unit but we're lucky in having enough leaders, big venue and lots of girls with other commitments )

We do a pack holiday where we take the oldest 12. If one of them can't go we offer the space to next oldest

Don't feel you need to change your system for one parent. It sounds totally fair and transparent, which is important. We had s parent query where her dd wasn't invited to pack holiday and best friend was, but when we explained she was unfortunately the 13th oldest and best friend was 12th oldest I don't think mum was thrilled but she understood. And we have plenty of other chances for overnights