Guiders Staff Room Part 4

[Groovee]

Moving on from Part 3

Good luck Groovee

I’ve a holiday planning meeting tonight too scissy - I really object to having to submit a Programme along of the REN. Frankly the whole 2-part REN thing is ridiculous - if they thought a month was too little time they should’ve just moved things back a month. But having to submit a Programme & a risk assessment is... either Leaders are qualified to do things or they’re not & given lots of people will produce better Programmes &/or Risk Assessments than the people responsible for checking them, it’s farcical. (Mind you, admit to being slightly tempted to write totally ridiculous things into middle of both to see if they’re read properly. But then I was once part of rocks fall, everyone dies appearing on a risk assessment for a [small] national event, so, er... [either that wasn’t read properly or staff member it went to decided to ignore it; really could go either way...])

Speaking as a former D.C.- you'd be amazed at the number of incorrect REN forms we get that take several weeks work before they can be approved - from very experienced Leaders sometimes.

I've seen guide gets arrested in foreign country on a risk assessment

Might happen! 😁

Heh - luckily I'm not the licence holder so I don't have to fill out the REN forms. The person who does was complaining that they were more onerous this year. Given we do the very similar things each year (just with a different "theme") I can see why it's annoying, but hopefully she won't have such a pain next year.

REN approval is more about ensuring adults have appropriate, valid qualifications for the activities than the actual activities themselves. It's not uncommon to see Leaders in the form with expired DBS, or a first sided who isnt arriving until several hours after the event has started, wrong adult:child ratios, inadequate mixed sex sleeping arrangements, etc, etc.
It also takes a while to check on any adults who don't have main role in the D.C.'s District.

Congrats Groovee.

I've put cartwheels on a risk assessment before. It was for an event organised bergen several groups and caused much amusement with the leader from another group

9 are making their promises tonight 😱

9! Wow, that's quite a group.
I'm trying to think of a way to recruit Rangers and not coming up with anything

That's an impressive group! Hope it went ok

Hello all!

Some of you have probably seen my fb threads about going to Kingswood in the not-so-distant future . I'm in need of some help, clothing wise please, for myself and dd1.

For both of us - where will I get cheap but decent quality waterproof coats that we can fold/roll up into backpacks? I don't want to spend a lot, at all, as we're only really likely to use them on residential(s?!) but would obviously like something that will keep us dry should it rain.

And, if you've said no jeans on the girls' kit-list, do you apply that to yourselves too? I'm having leg-wear issues - size 6-8 Primarni leggings are too big, size 2-4 are too small but again, didn't really want to pay more than the £2 or so a pair as I live in my skinny jeans unless I'm in pj's.

And, what sort of bag do you all use? I'm considering cheap & cheerful wheely bags from Primarni's travel section as we're using the bus.

We usually have adults wearing jeans except one who hates trousers. We can can quickly nip to change or not whinge if we get damp, not doing that ever again with 20 kids!

Have you thought about the regatta or lands end sale?

Ps where are you posting on Facebook?

I think I spotted your post on Facebook - are you doing GAW?

The main reason we say no jeans is how long they take to dry so if walking around in damp jeans all day won't bother you too much, I wouldn't shell out for new clothes.

I haven't been to Kingswood before but if you are travelling by bus and it is indoors/not over fields then wheely bags should be fine.

Good luck! I'm sure you will have a fantastic time

@Becles There are lots of Facebook groups! The main ones are called 'We Love GirlGuiding UK', 'New Programme in Girl Guiding Support Group' and one for each section 'Girlguiding [section name] Leader Support Group' - they can be great for advice, resources, etc so defo recommend joining if you haven't before.

Thanks Becles, I wasn't sure if we should apply the same to ourselves as the girls. My jeans are well worn in skinnies though, none of this ripped fashion stuff.

I'll check out Regatta and Lands End after work (baking with y1 allll day ) but might have to wait until next month to buy.

I've been posting in the Leaders groups on fb, very very useful! I'll link after work if no-one beats me to it :)

Different rules for kids!

Hi, looking for advice....is there such a thing as a rainbow to brownie Passover ceremony for rainbows moving up to brownies?

@Daisyhophop my Rainbows all walk under our rainbow to stand amongst the Brownies in a circle. The girl(s) moving up go under with a leader and are presented to Brown Owl who then introduces their Leaders and appoints them a Brownie Buddy. It only takes a couple of minutes but makes it a big thing for the girls (and the odd parent who choses to wait and watch) :)

@yaela123 (I have no idea why I needed two posts ) yes, I'm doing GAW 1-4 at Kingswood in May.

I have a spare pair of equally worn in jeans I'll pack and will take my smallest, too big, leggings too. (My supervisor at work laughed at me having this problem ).

Thanks lucysmam!

The Rainbows here step over their Rainbow to join us at Brownies (And meet their Brownie buddy and "brown owl"). They get presented with their pot of gold, the rainbow leader tells us a bit about them and what they've done then they do the 3 clap thing "goodbye, good luck, good guiding". We usually have parents attend ours. I believe they do a similar thing if a girl is leaving to join another unit, without meeting the new leaders/brownies.

Are all rainbows present as well as all brownies when the Passover happens? I’m a new brownie leader and just a bit worried about chaos when the rainbows are going home and brownies are arriving!

Yes, it only works for us though because our meeting times overlap by 30 mins so we do it in that time (the Rainbows meet in a smaller room of the same building). They then go out after it's finished and for us it's just after we've done the register.

Thanks scissy! Think I need to talk further with RL as to how it’s going to work. It used to be a joint unit but recently split, we have 15mins between meetings now. I’m all for the traditions but it’s how we make it work practically.

If you’ve 15 minutes between meetings Daisyhophop I’d think you’re probably looking at a Rainbow-based ceremony you visit as Brownie Leader rather than trying to fix up a joint one.

We’ve 15 minutes between the end of Brownies & start of Guides so the Guide Leader comes to our Flying Up ceremonies (which are now sometimes combined with/the end to Gold Award ones). She’s basically there to greet the Brownies as they come hurtling over the toadstool (we take the magic carpet from under it & Wise Owl off the top of it first!) & welcome them to the Guide Unit.

We don’t have a linked Rainbow Unit & rarely get girls who’ve been Rainbows as we’ve only one Unit in our Division (& mostly girls move up to the Brownies at that church). In absence of what GSUSA refer to as a bridging ceremony (I love they often use literal bridges, too) I work “coming over the Rainbow” into the Promise Ceremony for any girls who have been Rainbows so the Brownies can be part of their transition between sections.

@MarieVanGoethem thanks.
It’s lovely hearing all the different traditions!
Unfortunately the RL won’t budge, she wants me to invite Brownies and parents half an hour earlier to join in the ceremony. I’ve explained that I’m worried about the safety aspects, practicalities and the expectation to do this every 6weeks or so when a rainbow is moving up.
I’ve offered to come earlier so I can welcome them ‘over the rainbow’ or for her to bring the girls moving up to do the ceremony with the brownies.
Now she’s said just to leave it, she’ll sort it and they’ll join me on xx date.
Wanted to check I wasn’t going against anything major. Your advice on here is helpful as it seems leaders make the traditions work for their girls xx