Girl guiding

[Chickpea17]

I have read some much about girl guiding and just not sure about sending my 5 year old daughter. It will be her first time and I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable after reading so many comments. Could some please tell what really going on with GG?
Thanks

I'm a dbs verifier for my district and the lists of those with dbs are regularly reviewed.

If volunteers complete by the deadlines for their safe space (safeguarding) training which goes all the way from level 1 to level 4, despite repeated reminders Girlguiding now has a process to ban them from volunteering for 3 years.

Units

A lot of activities are girl lead, mostly shaped by the interests of the girls, the capabilities of the volunteers and the numbers/availability of volunteers. Volunteers are overwhelmingly passionate about girl only spaces, but the gulf between hq and the voices of the ones doing the work has never been greater.

We don't have enough adults for current demand and when you need a ratio of 1 adult to 8 Brownies to go outside or 1:4 (+1) for an overnight rainbow sleepover, plus the acres of trees that die for the 30 page risk assessments, volunteers will be thinking about their own sanity too.

Hi @Becles

I think we might have discussed this before. The criminal record check was just one of many issues I raised - they went to great lengths to avoid investigating and keeping me quiet (including throwing my daughters out of Guiding - one had just started Guides and one had just started Brownies).

I absolutely believe that in many areas it happens as it should. In our area it didn’t and instead of just rectifying this when I raised it, they made me shut up. This suggests to me it’s more widespread than just one area, as one area only would require such a small amount of work to fix it. To give you an example, I identified one leader in our unit didn’t have any safe space training. I asked her to complete it. She said she couldn’t as she didn’t have GO access. I asked commissioner to sort out GO acccess so she could complete training. She said no she couldn’t, because no criminal record check back yet, but had been sent off / applied for. There’s stats to show these checks are completed in less than two weeks in >99.8% cases. Seven months later commissioner casually mentions she hasn’t applied for a criminal record check. She’d been volunteering with girls throughout. This is against policy but what actually happens on the ground in some areas of the country and GG will not rectify problems. I’m glad things work well in your area but this isn’t the case everywhere, and I have fully documented the issues and also the fact that I really did everything I could to rectify, partially to cover my own back when something terrible happens - this wasn’t my negligence, but Girlguidings, and they didn’t care.

I think the new programme takes away a lot of the “girl led”. I know they say it should only take 60% of time, but if you’re term time only, 1.25-1.5h/week, I think it must be much more than 60% if you want to give all girls the opportunity to achieve gold. And we all know a lot of those activities are really💩I know you can pick and choose to an extent, and some leaders might like it as it can reduce planning time, but it does reduce flexibility and change it more in to a school like curriculum.

100% no I wouldn’t. But surely then at scouting it would be the same experience? They are after all mixed sex

•a woman (actual woman) probably wouldn't want to sleep with men in the same room and wouldn't be a danger in the same way of she did.
•a transman is less of a danger to little boys than a trans woman potentially is to little girls

I don't know anything about scouts' residential paperwork, but I do know that Guiding don't allow the presence of an intact male in a female sleeping/washing/dressing area to be called out on the risk assessment if that male self identifies as a woman.

As a District Commissioner I wasn't prepared to sign off residentials on that basis.

There's a tenner difference between ours at teenage levels. I hadn't realised different areas charged different fees. Our scouts have huts with climbing facilities and land, water sports equipment, camping equipment, I don't think I've ever paid for a badge and the uniform is good quality and minimal.

Guiding have a patch of land, we have to contribute to any outdoor stuff as they need to hire in, so it rarely happens. Have to buy badges, the logo washes off the uniform (which has multiple pieces and bobbles easily). They also keep changing the uniform, which makes it hard to pass on preworn stuff.

There also seems to be a difference in how the two organisations manage differing abilities. I have been considering penning a thread about this.

So there is £30 per term difference in cost here. We charge termly and it costs £35. Scouts is £65.
They do have their own scout huts but they are just a hall with a bit of green space. No facilities. We hire church halls which are very similar actually our green space is larger but we are lucky in that respect.
They have a larger facility about 30 minutes away which is actually next door to a similar guiding facility which can be used for camps etc. I don’t know what scouts have there as I can only see the outside. The guiding one has archery, assault course. Outdoor camping and cooking. Neither have water sports.

We don’t charge for badges. I don’t know any unit that does and these should be covered in termly subs so I am surprised you’ve had to pay for badges. It shouldn’t happen.
Uniform I only ask for a T-shirt and brownies are the same some kids have more. Some have nothing. I don’t make a fuss about it.
It’s true there is massive variability between units but I don’t know if that’s the same with scouts too? I guess it must be when you’re relying on volunteers since you can’t make people do things they aren’t happy with.
Sounds like you have a pretty bad guiding group and a decent scout group where you are.

I have been a Rainbow leader for many years. In my area Safeguarding and First Aid qualifications are enforced. Our leadership team all have an education or childcare background and are very aware of safeguarding. Trans issues have never arisen and I don't expect they will. We do our best to provide a varied and fun programme for our girls based on the badges.
If OP asked for a place at our unit I would be happy to discuss her concerns with no obligation to take up a place. I also invite parents to stay with their daughters for at least the first session and am surprised how few do.

@Blackcountryexile it's good it is enforced in your area. The fact that you clarify in your area suggests you understand that making sure that leaders aren't on the list of offenders barred from working with children isn't something that is done everywhere, even though policy says that it should be.

It's sad, isn't it? You want your child to go to an activity which has the potential to be a lot of fun and give them a lot of great experiences, but you've no idea if you're in a GG area of the country where they do take action to ensure girls are kept safe or one that doesn't.