Flexible guiding
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This information supports Girlguiding UK’s Membership and Recruitment
Policy. Please read it together with the Policy.
‘Flexible guiding’ describes ways in which guiding can be
organised and delivered to suit particular local circumstances.
Being flexible ensures that girls and young women can have guiding
opportunities in areas where a ‘one size fits all’ approach across
the UK would mean that guiding could not exist.
Leadership Teams
More and more units are adopting a Unit Leadership Team
approach, in which all Leaders work together and share unit
administration roles, and one Leader acts as unit contact. Some
units are managed by job-sharing Leaders who take it in turns to
run the unit meeting.
Leaders who are no longer able to commit to running their own
unit may be willing to join a central District or Division
Leadership Team that can occasionally help to run a unit meeting
when the regular Leaders are not available, for example because of
illness or holidays.
In District or Division teams, the roles and tasks needed in the
area can be matched to the skills of local Leaders and volunteers,
e.g. parents and other supporters. The Commissioner can support
team members without having to take on the entire workload of the
area herself.
Meeting times and places
There is no set pattern for unit meetings; some units meet
weekly and others choose to meet fortnightly or monthly. Some meet
on Saturdays or Sundays instead of on week nights.
Leaders are encouraged to consider arrangements that would best
suit the Leadership Team and the needs of local girls and their
families, as well as the availability of a suitable venue, when
choosing meeting times and places.
A suitable meeting place must meet girls’ and young women’s
needs as well as budget and availability requirements. It is
important that the meeting place does not exclude local girls, for
example because it is associated with one particular faith or
cannot be accessed by anyone with mobility impairments. Workplaces
or shopping centres may be prepared to make venues available as
part of their contribution to the community.
Flexible age groups
In an area without enough girls to form, for example, a separate
Rainbow and Brownie unit, two sections can be combined in a
mixed-age unit. Each girl must have the opportunity to take part in
activities and the guiding programme relevant to her age and
section as well as general games and other activities that can be
shared as a larger group. Running the meeting for the older girls
half an hour longer gives them time purely for their age group, and
ensures that the younger girls will be keen to move on to the next
section.
Supporters
There are many ways for volunteers to support guiding without
working with girls and young women or being involved in unit
meetings. Volunteers who take on any of these tasks are providing
valuable support to the Unit Leadership Team and giving them more
time to spend with the girls:
- shopping
- keeping accounts
- preparing materials for activities
- letter writing
- making bookings
- transport
- equipment maintenance
- fundraising
- catering
- photocopying
- photography.
12 Hour Challenge
This initiative challenges potential volunteers to give 12 hours
of their time to guiding. This could cover activities such as
helping at a one-off all-day event, visiting several different
units for an evening to share a skill, or updating a local group’s
website from time to time.
The hours are not recorded, and people may give more or less
than twelve hours.
The important thing is that people are able to contribute to local
guiding and are made welcome. If 12 Hour Challenge volunteers have
a good experience they may be keen to offer more time to
guiding.
Helpers
Trefoil Guild members can
assist with many tasks and activities, including running unit
meetings on an occasional basis.
- Parents who have young children to look after could help as
part of a rota that enables parents to help out at meetings while
another parent looks after the younger children at the unit meeting
place.
- Students can offer a valuable regular commitment during the
academic term and may have previous experience of guiding.
- Volunteers can help occasionally or regularly at unit meetings
and events, or at larger events such as County fun days.
Local guiding needs
Parents living in some areas may have difficulty taking their
daughters to guiding meetings. Ideas such as these can help to make
guiding possible.
- Rainbow/Brownie meetings can use the same premises at the same
time – ideal in numbers are small. One unit meets at one end of
room and one at the other. Some activities can be joint and some
separate.
- A Senior Section meeting can be run at the same time as a Guide
meeting, in the same or a nearby venue.
- If all meetings in a village or area take place on the same
night, parents can share transport more easily. Guides/Senior
Section members can be dropped off as Brownies/Rainbows are picked
up.
- A group of girls can go to one house for tea and then one
parent takes them to the unit meeting – parents work on a
rota.
- Meeting straight after school means girls don’t have a long
school run home followed by a lot more travel to and from meetings.
Parents only have to come out once, or they can collect the girls
on their way home from work.
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