Guiders Staff Room Part 4

[Groovee]

Moving on from Part 3

[BringOnTheScience]

We don't have any joint moving up ceremonies as our units all meet on different nights. We arrange visits to the new unit, but last one is simply 'Here are your badges, good luck, been great having you, handshake & hugs, bye'.

[InflagranteDelicto]

We don't have any joint moving up ceremonies. I rarely get rainbows, there's not any rainbow units in the village, and the Guides are in the nearest town on a different night.
My last meeting is a fun one, then a good bye, here's your badges, have a great time in Guides, you're welcome to come back as a YL in time.

[underneaththeash]

No we don’t have joint ones either - although they generally have at least two terms before moving up as we’re quite full (and we don’t check them out if rainbows until they’re 7.5 either!)

[BringOnTheScience]

It should be called Stop, not Go.

Or at least "Hang on a minute, while it goes round & round until you decide to do something else while you wait, then it times out, throws you off, then you have to log in again." That's not quite so snappy though.
Sigh

[yaela123]

BringOnTheScience Definitely!

[SmarmyMrMime]

Hello, finally found this chat

I'm in need of a whinge. Had our first planning meeting involving the new programme tonight and I'm totally underwhelmed. It's just felt like an abstact exercise in do that card, it's the right colour, do that card, it fills up 20 minutes. Hardly the active, girl led programme we've been used to planning and delivering.

I've come in and looked at my son's Cub badge book in envy. I'm a Beaver leader too. I like the concept of linking the themes continuously through the age groups and liked the staged skill badges in Scouting when I started helping out. But doing everything off a sodding card? YAWN. So the boring colouring in Brownie pack will get a bit more interesting, and we get made boring and nearly identical. If I wanted to deliver a rigid curriculum, I'd still be getting paid to teach thanks. Scouting seems to have a decent balance of structure to meet the challenge badges to build up to the Chief Scout Awards, with the flexibility to choose the activities, not death by flashcard.

It's a good job I love my fellow Guiders and the girls because sometimes it's tough to feel the love for the organisation. It sounded interesting at the training, but I'm disheartened at the moment.
Hopefully I'll get over my hump and get used to lots of being indoors doing writing and discussing and we might in the future get hold of enough interesting flashcards to fill a term and umpteen hours to complete the skills builders and actually enjoy it.

[BringOnTheScience]

Hello @SmarmyMrMime
I feel your pain, but it's not too bad when you get into it. In theory, the cards etc are for 60% of your time, so there's still time for special events and daft nights.

Get the girls to pick their first SB (I offered a choice of 3 initially). Then give out a load of UMA cards for them to discuss in Sixes ; choose favourites. Add in Badge Night, something seasonal and a local trip... That's your term plan.

All of the cards can be adapted, so long as the "What you'll get out of it" is met. No-one's going to audit you

Eg "Strike a light' is the UMA to teach them how to strike a match & light candles. This naturally leads to smores!

Eg 'In a Fix' is the UMA for using nails & screws in fruit. No- one is using fruit! Soft wood blocks/offcuts work fine. Give them outlines for hearts, trees, initials, etc. Loom bands or wool wrapped around for colour. Hey presto: Christmas / Mothers Day / etc gifts sorted.

There are a bazillion great ideas for jazzing it up on the Unofficial FB grou.

[BringOnTheScience]

The Brownie Leaders' FB group... m.facebook.com/groups/207157759474675?ref=bookmarks

[SmarmyMrMime]

I'm on the fb group but don't feel confident posting as we have a rather zealous DC who is very regimented in her attitudes to everything and I don't want to risk saying anything that could cause aggro for our unit.

The way the programme is recorded with time allocations seems very prescriptive. For example the 45 minute designing and sewing a badge is pointless as it cannot be completed adequately in one night so any further time allocation erodes our 40% of time or eats out the other UMA time and there's no point in barely starting it. Our unit has had a lot of aggro over trivial issues in recent years so we have no confidence or desire to deviate from what is prescribed as we are likely to get hung out to dry on it.

We've got a couple of packs of cards and it will get better as we gradually aquire more, but it feels so much a case of we have these cards ergo this is our programme so lump it.

We have 90 minute sessions but x2 15 mins at the ends is settling games, songs, drinks, pow wow etc so that's 60 mins of programme time plus a few nights off to go and have an adventure. 60% of time on prescibed activity feels really high by the time routines fit in. It didn't sound too bad at the training but feels harder to put into practice. We haven't got the selection to offer the girls a genuine choice so they fit with the right timings and the right themes.

It doesn't help that I'm not an instruction off the card type person. I look at an outcome and like to research or develop the way to reach it and adapt. If I'm cooking, the recipe is the starting point then the meal is something on the theme of. I just don't get on with processing various stages one by one.

In an education system with a curriculum that's become so prescribed, it's sad that girl guiding is going down the same route. Children need the opportunity to do things where the motivator is primarily for fun (and the odds are high that there will be a host of other benefits to it anyway) but fun for the sake of fun is so important to wellbeing without everything having to be worthy and justified.

I usually get over myself in the end

[BringOnTheScience]

I agree that the times are prescriptive, especially that sewing one! I'm hoping that GG will eventually allow an element of 'any other activity so long as it's relevant to the theme'. Maybe a max of 1 hour of the 4?

[Becles]

The sewing one is a pain. We this term over 2 meetings, one to plan and the other to do the sewing. Self threading needles!!!!

[lucysmam]

Do any of you have experience of a girl with 8p23 duplication syndrome?

We have a Rainbow starting after Easter who has this but Mum's response to me asking for info so we have a basic understanding of it was "google it", and "yes" when I asked whether she would need a 1:1 for support. Not a good start really & made me wonder if she would have been receptive to being asked in person or not.

We have a leader who is experienced as a 1:1 but none of us have heard of 8p23 & google throws up a lot of medical journal type info but nothing really basic which is where I think we need to start. (I've emailed our Div Comm too and am just about to email our disability advisor as well).

[yaela123]

lucysmam I do not have any experience with that condition but I think that your priority should be to set up a meeting with the mum in person, to discuss how you can best support the Rainbow. It is difficult enough to communicate via text even when parents are forthcoming with information. If she cannot meet you before the Rainbow starts, could you have a phone call? There could be a number of reasons why her texts are blunt, such as English not being her first language, so a proper meeting will allow you to get to know her a lot better. If possible you should try and involve all the other leaders in the unit, and your DC in meetings too, or at least make sure to keep them up to date.

It could be good to find out also if the girl has an EHC plan or similar at school, which could help you to know more about how to best support her.

Hopefully others will have some more specific advice, and your disability adviser. Good luck!

[Groovee]

I've never had experience of it. Have heard of it. I'd speak to mum on the first night if she's not forthcoming.

[lucysmam]

Thank you both; I will try and set up a meeting beforehand with Mum and as many of us as can be present (school hols/work might make it difficult but we will try). If no joy, our newest leader is going to run our first meeting back barring picking a SB as a unit, so that she and the girls get to know each other better) so we will fit in ten minutes then.

I'll keep our Div Comm updated yalea123, I always do (am never sure whether I update toooooooo much tbh, but I figure it's best to share too much rather than not enough!).

[BringOnTheScience]

My science background made me look this up. It's very rare so info is pretty vague.
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.rarechromo.org/media/information/Chromosome%2520%25208/8p23%2520duplications%2520FTNW.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiPgaPZ4c3hAhXlQhUIHfXRB8AQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1snaelpKC_lSVvoDdRa6Ml" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.rarechromo.org/media/information/Chromosome%2520%25208/8p23%2520duplications%2520FTNW.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiPgaPZ4c3hAhXlQhUIHfXRB8AQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1snaelpKC_lSVvoDdRa6Ml apologies for long link!
1:1, speech delay, plus some physical issues which definitely need discussing before trips & sleepovers.

I have 2 Flossies with SEN at the mo, had others in the past, and it is hard work. It's a big ask on volunteers, even those with professional experience. I'm a teacher, my UH is a TA and Tawny has a child with SEN. We still find our Flossies to be a challenge.

Talk to parents A LOT. What support does she actually need? How do her parents expect volunteers to cope? What will the impact be on your other girls?

[lucysmam]

BringOnTheScience, thanks for the link, that's one of the ones I've read. There doesn't really seem to be much general info to go on.

I'm relieved now that I didn't turn down the extra adults who have recently joined us, but wondering whether I should have over-ruled the suggestion of increasing numbers since there are five of us plus 2 Guides who mooch about helping (we have three Guides actually attend but the third has SEN herself & is very much Rainbow 'age' mentally, although she has a good go at the Guide stuff to her ability!).

Uff.

I guess we'll see how the suggestion of a meeting goes down before panicking too much!

[Becles]

Send the general health form and confirm it needs to return to you, you then meet before you can confirm if her daughter can start. Unacceptable telling you to Google information, even professionals specialising in the condition need specific details about day to day presentation. You need to understand and see if possible to mitigate any implications for the unit - ratio, planning, activities, risk assessment and leader allocation.

Mum needs to understand from the start that it's a partnership, not respite. If she's being like this now I'd get the division or county needs advisor and DC involved now and have a clear audit trail for all communication.

Consider: your current ratios, do you have enough volunteers to cover if one of you is on holiday or having a bad week at work, will district step up to help if you're stuck, will the other children in the unit be able to have a safe and enjoyable time, current sen demands on the unit and do all the volunteers feel able to manage if other girls.have existing considerations.

For my unit when thinking about additional needs, do you trust the parents, will they respect you and the team, do all the vols buy in? When we have proper dialogue with parents and trust they tell us everything or we can ask questions AND leaders don't feel overwhelmed or put upon it works even with multiple girls with needs.

Please remember that even squeezing in just one more Rainbow, if you are not confident you will be able to properly support the girl due to complexities, volunteer ratio, lack of information or can't work with the parent you absolutely do not have to accept her.

[InflagranteDelicto]

I've had a Brownie with a genetic disorder, it sounds similar to the link, but mum never used a name for it, she described how it affected flossie.
Because flossie had gross & fine motor problems (Inc toileting) , and severe vision problems mum would come and help. She would often not be helping the six her daughter was in, because flossie got more that way. Greatest achievement was flossie completing a 5k competition hike last year.

[Groovee]

Back tonight, we're doing guiding into engineering from Amey. Having a good chuckle at the bridge testing tonight with a bag of coins.

And we got 18 out of 21 subs. One of the 3 paid online, another was off and the other mum is away and dad can't remember if she gave instructions 😂

[WistfulBarnacles]

wonder if I can get some advice re a Rainbow sleepover. We are putting together one and we were wondering about timings. The sleepover would be a Saturday to Sunday. What time would you usually get the Rainbows dropped off on the Saturday and picked up on the Sunday? I'm used to older age groups and I'm worried that home sickness will be an issue as many of them haven't been away from home without family before.

thanks

[Heratnumber7]

There's no "usual". It would depend on what you want to do on each day.
How about mid morning Sat to just after lunch Sun?

Or 9amish Sat to just after breakfast Sun, if you'd prefer an uninterrupted day.

[BringOnTheScience]

Rainbows can't do more than 24 hours. How about noon to noon? Arrive in time for lunch then go home for lunch.

[WistfulBarnacles]

Thank you for your replies. I was worried that 24 hours would be too long and if we were better doing e.g. 5pm to 10am. But if others have done 24 hours and found that ok then that's great.

[Becles]

Rainbows are usually fine with 24 hours, dont worry about home sickness. As long as they have a familiar face they are really chilled.