New going away with scheme, same amazing adventures!

Big changes are here for the going away with scheme - and leaders across Girlguiding are already exploring the benefits.

The new online going away with scheme is launching later this month, in October 2025. This scheme lets you take girls on overnight trips, like sleepovers and camps. You can do it if you’ve finished the leader development programme and are currently a leader, commissioner or adviser.

To complete the scheme, you’ll plan and run a residential with girls and show evidence of what you did. Find out more about how to complete the scheme.

Designed to be more flexible, accessible and easier for mentors and mentees, the new scheme replaces the book. The scheme's moved online, with lots of templates, online document submission and an interactive learning course. It offers more support for volunteers to create unforgettable overnight adventures for their girls.

In this blog, we catch up with Frances and Rachel, who’ve recently completed the pilot.

What roles do you do in Girlguiding, and what’s been your favourite memory so far?

Rachel: 'I’ve been a guide leader for just over 20 years and a Brownie leader for 4 years. I’ve always enjoyed going to Big Gig and I’ve been a couple of times.'

Frances: 'I’ve been a guide leader since 2009. I was in Brownies and Guides aswell. My favourite experience was when I was a Ranger leader. We had a walking weekend with the Rangers, where we climbed a mountain and made a little campfire and sat and took in the views – it was magical.'

Where did you go on a trip for the going away with scheme?

Rachel: 'In July, we went on a 2 night sleepover for Brownies. It was called Animal Antics and it was all animal themed, then went to a local farm for the day. We fed all the animals and watched them milk the cows. It was great!'

Frances: 'We went to local campsite for a 2 night camp and the girls learned all about camp skills.'

How did you find using the new system? 

Rachel: 'I found the learning process on the learning platform very straightforward and simple to use. It was a lot easier and a lot less daunting. I found all of the information videos and content useful, and I used lots of the templates provided to help me with my planning. As part of the pilot, we were able to give suggestions of how to improve it or if we noticed anything not working.'

Frances: 'I really like it. I’m dyslexic, so find putting pen to paper difficult. The scheme being online was great, the activities were varied and I really like the interactivity, such as the budget where you figure the costs out. The only thing I’d say was when you typed out your notes or thoughts, it would be better if it was emailed back to me, so I just needed to print it out and could go through with a mentor.'

What made you want to do the going away with scheme?

Rachel: 'We still went on camps and trips organised by other units or districts. I was district commissioner for a few years too, so had planned sleepovers and someone else was licence holder. I heard about the new pilot online and it sounded right up my street, so I was very pleased to get selected for it.'

I wanted to do it for ages and had bought the original book to do it years ago, then life got in the way. The book was daunting and felt like it was a big task.' -Rachel

Frances: 'I’d done the scheme and held the licences in Ireland, but since I moved to the UK I hadn’t been in charge of a unit. Our previous unit leader held the licences. They left our unit last year and I still wanted to take the girls away, so thought I’d go for it.'

What did the trip involve, did you get any badges and what was your favourite part?

Rachel: 'The new Brownies all got badges for their first sleepover. My favourite part was the trip to the farm. The whole weekend was really nice. A lot of Brownies were nervous and had lots of worries, as it was their first time away from home, so it was a great confidence builder.'

Frances: 'We had 16 girls come and we cooked s’mores on a campfire, put up tents and did orienteering. We also did grass sledging and the zipline. They all got a variety of different badges and the girls could choose which ones they wanted.'

What did the parents and girls say about it?

Rachel: 'The Brownie sleepover went really well overall and all the girls seemed to enjoy the weekend. I received some really lovely feedback and lots of the girls have said they can't wait to have another residential.'

One parent said: ‘When she came home she said to me "you're going to find this heartbreaking mum. I want to stay there forever!”' so I think she enjoyed it all!' - Rachel

Frances: 'Our girls really enjoyed the low rope course and zipline. The low rope course was really cool, the other leaders and I got involved and it was great fun. The girls enjoyed the grass sledges too, apart from dragging them back up the hill! My favourite activity was learning to start a fire using flint and steel. One group managed it within a few minutes, and the parents and carers sent lots of lovely messages of thanks after the camp.'

How long did it take you to complete?

Rachel: 'I had an original call about the pilot earlier this year, then wanted to try to do it before the summer. It was the weekend before the summer holidays. Around 4 months from planning stages to actually doing it. The stuff on the computer and learning bit only took a day to watch the videos. The planning and budget, forms, activity plan and residential event notification (REN forms) is the time consuming bit and took the most time.'

Frances: 'The online part only took me an evening to complete. I’d done a lot of the things already, such as making a budget, risk assessment and the health forms, but hadn’t worked through the module. I could gradually tick off the admin planning checklist, though trying to collect all the forms from attendees is always the hardest part!'

How do you think the new system will help volunteers?

Frances: 'It makes it all simple. It’s a nice little system.'

It’s a tickbox system and I like the green ticks to show your progress. You can do some of it, then come back to it later, so you can dip out and take a break if you want to.' - Frances

Rachel: 'I've been a leader for 20 years and have probably been meaning to do the scheme for about 10 of those. I've had a book sat in my bag but it always felt like a huge undertaking. However, having everything online, learning through videos and having access to all the templates made it feel much easier.'

What are you going to do next now you've completed the scheme?

Rachel: 'Going forward I feel really confident to run lots more residential trips and camps. I’ve run lots of events, but can now just organise a sleepover just for our joint unit.'

Some girls even said they would love to try camping now after building their confidence during the weekend, which is great because that was one of the reasons we did it!' - Rachel

Frances: 'I’m now planning the region trip to Amsterdam next year. We’re also going to do an annual camp for Guides like we did this year.  We’re also thinking of doing one of the big Jamboree camps taking place in the UK in 2026 too.'

For anyone who's already started the offline workbook going away with scheme can still continue, as there will be a 12-month transitionary period after launch. The going away with scheme webpage will be updated later this month with more information about it moving online.