The benefits of flexible guiding

Together, we’ve been through an unbelievable year.

Whether you’ve taken part in Girlguiding activities or had a well-deserved break, it’s getting to that time to think about our next steps. Hopefully over the last year, whatever situation you’ve been in, you been able to feel that your Guiding family has stood by your side and is ready to welcome you back with open arms.

We’re on the path to recovery, with everyday life starting to look a little more to normal for many of us, which hopefully means face-to-face guiding can start to return in full force. However, maybe it’s time to look at your unit and check if it’s working as well as it could. Have you found that one week a month you’re short of adults due to shift work, your hall is closed for two weeks every year or you can’t get a meeting space that fits your hours?

Maybe it’s a time for a refresh? Lots of units this year have been trying out virtual and outdoor guiding. And everyone seems to be having a great time. Could you change up your session by adding in these new ways of guiding? Speak to your leadership team and girls to see what they think.

When you don’t have enough adults to meet face-to-face, do you have enough to run a virtual session instead? Or if your hall has a planned closure, could you meet outside? Don’t forget a campfire in winter is just as fun as a campfire in summer!

Recently we’ve published lots of blogs giving advice on all things Guiding over the last year and a bit. They have some really great tips and ideas on how to run meetings virtually, outdoors, and socially distanced. We’ve picked out some great starting points below to help you get your Guiding mojo back.

• The Adventures at home hub is packed full of really useful resources. It has everything from programme adaptations, amazing challenge activities, virtual games to How-to videos!
• Bringing guiding outdoors list some great programme activities for each section that are really simple to do outdoors.
• We have example programme plans for lots of situation. Have a look at them for inspiration of what your return to Guiding could look like.
• Got new girls joining? Check out our How to welcome new girls blog post.
• Promise and badge ceremonies piling up? We’ve come up with some top tips on how you can do this virtually and socially distanced.

Just remember Guiding will always be here, ready for you to return. If you have questions or concerns, get in touch with your commissioner. Already back at it? Is there anything you can do to support leaders and girls around you in their return to guiding?