Guiding in a pandemic
Guiding this year has not been what any of us expected. Through varying levels of local and national restrictions, Girlguiding members all over the country have been working incredibly hard to be there for girls and young women.
We asked leaders across the country what kinds of things they’re doing to engage their units, how they’re adapting to new challenges and what their biggest learnings are.
We hope their ideas are useful inspiration for you, and a reassurance that no matter what restrictions become necessary in your area over the coming months, there are options to keep guiding going in a way that feels safe and right for you.
A huge thank you to everyone who responded to our request for stories in this piece – we continue to be inspired by each and every one of you!
Bringing the campsite indoors during early lockdown.
8th Upper Tooting Brownies & Guides, London South West
Once restrictions eased a little over the summer, Barbara Littlechild’s unit decided to use a combination of online and outdoor meetings to suit girls’ and leaders’ preferences.
“We started Zoom meetings for Guides after Easter with about half the unit participating. We completed a few skills builders and at the girls’ request continued over the summer with fun activities - particular hits were a virtual escape room, baking soda-bread and microwave mug cakes. These are especially great activities to do online as there is no clearing up for the leaders! We started meeting outdoors in September. We’ve had a small group of 5-6 Guides and a parent rota for the second adult, as my regular leaders were not able to join us. The parents have appreciated seeing what the Guides do and how they interact in a different environment. The rest of the leadership team have run Zoom meetings for the three Guides unable to join the outdoor meetings. We've reached nine of 12 Guides by offering both options. The Brownies were slower to engage with virtual meetings. A combination of too much screen time and requiring more parental input meant we only had a few join us on Zoom, but they did complete the Reflect 2 skills builder. Before the second lockdown, we divided the unit into two groups and met in alternate weeks outdoors. Our leadership team were able to support with the type of meeting which suited them best, and where needed a parent sat in on the Zoom meeting. 20 of 23 Brownies have joined in this way! Overall, it has been a learning curve for us all to get to grips with the logistics, but we’ve gradually become more adventurous with our activities. We’ve focussed on looking at imaginative ways to adapt activities to suit virtual or socially distanced meetings , while remembering that some girls are not comfortable speaking on Zoom. I won't pretend it’s always been easy, but it has been worthwhile, and the girls and parents have been very appreciative.”
Barbara's leadership team moved their meetings onto Zoom.
1st Keynsham Guides, Somerset
Naomi Love found that running meetings on Zoom didn’t suit her Guides or her leadership team. They decided to come up with ways to keep girls engaged online without virtual unit meetings.
“When lockdown first occurred, we as a leadership team were reluctant to jump into online guiding, as we didn’t feel it was right for our Guides. Additionally, the majority of the leadership team were working from home and suffering from “Zoom fatigue”. We decided early on to provide weekly activities, sharing these via a parent Facebook group and email when needed.
Keeping to weekly activities meant we could have regular engagement with the Guides, and we looked for a mixture of programme and non-programme activities. We know that many of our girls worked with each other remotely in friendship groups, and we suggested adaptions so that they could complete activities alone. In some cases, siblings and whole families also took part in challenge badge activities.
Over the past six months, our unit of around 20 Guides have earned 90 interest and challenge badges and completed 14 skills builders. We’ve given out 16 Theme awards, six Bronze awards, and five Gold awards, with four more imminent!”
"We’ve given out 16 Theme awards, six Bronze awards, and five Gold awards, with four more imminent!" Naomi, Guide leader
1st Sumercotes Guides, Derbyshire
Sarah Parr, Helen Cope, Judith Wing, Dot Lancaster, Katie Archer, and Emily Priest have tried a little of everything! They ran virtual, outdoor and indoor guiding sessions, and did an amazing job adapting to new restrictions when they came.
“Somercotes Guides went virtual in April 2020. Going virtual really did give us a massive boost, as we missed the girls and their positivity. Whilst meeting virtually we have done cooking, puppet-making, our camp skills builder, teddy bear zip lines, an escape room, pet nights, forensic science, dance, tin can lanterns and, of course, a virtual sleepover. We received some fabulous messages from parents. Here’s one:
‘ ...As parents, we would like to say what an inspiration you all are and how lucky the children are to have you as leaders. Through such a difficult time, especially for the children, you have kept us all going with that ‘something’ to look forward to on a Monday night - and we wanted you to know how grateful we are that you give up so much of your time for this very important cause.’
When we were able to meet up again outside in August, we jumped at the chance and booked a local camp site for a few hours. We did some ‘drumming’ games on upturned buckets, had a picnic and then a picture orienteering course. I have to say, it was another emotional day, as it was so lovely to see the girls laughing together and running around freely.
Before the second lockdown began, we also started indoor face-to-face guiding. Organising the logistics was interesting, as we can only have 15 people maximum in our meeting place, so we had to split into two groups of girls and two groups of leaders.
The risk assessment was daunting at first, but we found that the key was to walk through the whole meeting, from when we arrive to when we leave, and think about what we would do differently.
Our first meeting was a learning curve. It was hard to create the chaotic enthusiasm we normally see at Guides with a smaller group, all wearing face masks and 2m away from each other. But when we played some silly games, that sparkle soon came back! And in the middle of it all we are starting a new Rangers unit!
Now that we are back in lockdown we have returned to Zoom and have adapted our plans to make them virtual friendly, with an emphasis on fun activities to raise the girls' spirits. We are especially looking forwards to our virtual Christmas party!
One of our biggest learnings during this period has been that we can always adapt and change. It's all about finding a way of doing things that works for you and your unit. We’ve also seen how important guiding is to not only the girls, but also the parents. Whole families have got involved, forming a supportive community. We will keep this momentum going in the future; maybe inspiring some parents to volunteer too!”
Guide Katie tries camping at home with the 1st Sumercotes Guides!
Dolcie, Katie, Nina and Tilly enjoyed an emotional outdoor meeting in August
1st Neston & Box Guides, Wiltshire North
As well as adapting Girlguiding programme materials, Elaine Cook gathered activity ideas from lots of different places to keep her meetings fun and engaging.
“We quickly discovered that "doing" is more popular than talking or thinking on Zoom, so we've done lots of crafting activities. Food is the girls’ favourite activity, and we've experimented with mug cakes, chocolate fudge, and glow in the dark jellies.
We've taken a few liberties with programme materials to make it work online - for example, to complete the Feel good skills builder we asked all the girls to watch a fitness instructor online (like Joe Wicks) and then to come up with their own minute-long exercise plan. We then completed everyone's exercise routines. This meant I had to do two hours of exercise - I was a bit sweaty by the end!
There's also loads of support out there. We've played several of the games suggested by Girlguiding, like the cutlery game. I've joined the 1st Virtual Scout Group on Facebook, where Guide and Scout leaders share ideas and activities they've run online. We've also used material from other places - Cards Against Humanity released a Family Edition over the summer as a free downloadable PDF, so our first meeting back in September was very silly as we played that!
We have about 30 Guides attending each week, although there are some we haven't heard from since the start of lockdown. We've kept census contributions voluntary as so many families have been financially impacted by the pandemic and resulting restrictions, and we've managed to welcome six new Guides into our unit through the virtual meetings.”
Planning activities as regulations and rules change can be difficult. We've got advice on adapting the programme to run virtually or with social distancing.
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