A Safe Space Addendum

It's Christmas holidays and Safe Space training starts again next week with 2 x Level 3 Region trainings to be delivered in Bristol. So for the 3rd consecutive Christmas holiday I have devoted some time to the Level 3 training plan and slides. Updating them with the addendum information & new slides that were published in July. I like the new slides as they provide a level of detail which has previously been missing, and give more discussion points to work with. Naturally I had to work through the slide numbering on my training plan as adding new slides had resulted in some changes, but I took the opportunity to delete a few more of the original slides and shuffle again in hindsight of delivering Level 3 trainings to date.

I downloaded the training plan from the website in case it had changed but doesn't appear too other than the comments in the addendum from July but I've  added a date to the plan to show when I last reviewed it. Been focussing on new programme trainings so far this academic year so good to get back to Safe Space with some new slides to brief on.

I've also re-visited my risk assessment, but nothing new to add, I've trained at the Bristol venue half a dozen times now and could even find the way there without the sat nav. Stocked up on mints from our brand new Aldi to go in my coconut bowl with the elephant painted on the inside, that I found in my Christmas stocking and charged my blue tooth speaker. So all ready to go (again!) next weekend.  

WAGGGS Diversity Toolkit

Whilst not a new resource, in one place it states published in 2011, some of the content relates to 2007 but it does say it is very much a living document. It draws very heavily on material from the UK Scout Association and the Swedish Guide Association. There is some very useful content and the 65 page toolkit is divided into 3 parts including a range of factsheets, some activities and some training plans on diversity.

This extract is from Page 44 of the toolkit - I especially like it because you could use the Thermometer technique to deliver a number of subjects. All you need is a few statements - I think a critical element would be to keep the activity moving quickly for it to be successful, no matter what the topic is.

The Thermometer

This is a good exercise when you want to prepare a group for values exercises. It makes everybody move, think and choose. Put pieces of paper numbered from 1 to 6 in a line on the floor. The number must be even so that there is no “middle” number. Give a statement and point to it on the “thermometer”, for example: Leadership training is the most important thing in scouting (number 1) or training to cooperate (number 6). Then the participants are asked to go to the number that corresponds with their opinion. They must stand on the very number, not between numbers. Let them talk to the person standing next to them and then let the whole group tell what opinions are represented. The whole thing must be rather quick, making the decision and presenting the opinions, both. No lengthy discussions. The goal is to get started, start thinking and hold on to your view.

Examples of statements:

The greatest threat to democracy is: racists – anarchists
Prejudices are created by: parents – media
Criminality is a result of: your upbringing – your friends
The most important thing to prevent prejudice is: knowledge – good role models
The most vital task for a scout leader is to: teach new things – question values

Girls Attitude Survey 2018

Latest Girls Attitude Survey has been published and is a really insightful read for every Trainer. I've tried harder to get hold of a copy this year but no chance and other Trainers have said to me they would use it also if it was more freely available. The full pdf can be downloaded here:
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/social-action-advocacy-and-campaigns/research/girls-attitudes-survey/ its thought provoking and shouts out loud and clear why leaders need to adopt the new programme.

These are the headlines from the Girl Guiding website

2018 Trainers Support Group

I attended the annual 3 counties Trainers Support Group this week over in Swindon. It's always a good experience to hear that trainers right across the Region are having the same issues. The topics that we discussed included:

• the new  programme - Girl Guiding appears to becoming slightly more relaxed to some of our questions than they were earlier in the year, especially in relation to achieving interest badges!
• Safe Space - a discussion around L4 and how the failure to undertake the training by 2020 will be administered. NB Mentors must have L3 now.
• Trainers Required - for a county event in 2019 were found.
• Trainer Renewals - we had a very heated debate about the rationale behind the role visit; and what the current rules are for renewal.
• More new resources - new checklists and GDPR resources.

It was good to see 2 new prospective trainers and as always to meet some old friends, and we all have a new line for our PDP's. Next year we have decided to meet in the Summer to travel in daylight hours and avoid the fog.

 

Self Evaluation Safe Space Level 4

This time in Hampshire North - I do like training Commissioners they get nice venues and hot lunches!

Fortunately I left in plenty of time as today it wasn't the IT, but the logistics in the conference room - because it had been split in 2, I was left with a rather thin long room but the projector was projecting up on the ceiling and in order to project down to the screen, I needed a much longer cable to link the projector with my laptop. The extra length cable didn't work with the projector so the only solution was to turn the training 180 degrees and use the drop down projector; and move both the projector and my laptop! All straight forward but needing time - thankfully my VGA adaptor & pointer were both deployed as my laptop was balanced on a chair!

I didn't get the email moving lunch forward an hour but it actually worked really well as it was a better place to break immediately after the section on drawing the commissioner and giving her attributes she needs, and ironically the other L4 also broke for lunch at exactly the same place.

I marked up the commissioners book with tabs relating to the topic, so I could indicate the page references as we covered the different sections (it really needs a contents page). I also laminated the discussion sheets for the activities and used non permanent pens  so they could be wiped clean and used again. I need to do more work moving the slides around as in places they don't match the training plan very well (I had already deleted several) but feels like the slides were produced by a different person to the training plan! I had struggled to mark up the training plan with the slide numbers and the page references from the commissioners book to begin with.

The section on managing information needs some extra work to fit in line with the wealth of GDPR guidance that is out there now. I also wove in Being Prepared, Girls attitude survey (not many present knew it existed, GDPR Guiding Conversation and the new checklists (again barely anyone was aware of them).

They were a really participative audience and asked lots of questions; I fitted in all the activities this time but I needed more mint humbugs as one packet wasn't enough!

Better once the room was turned 180 degrees

Lovely idea for a Trainers gift

Examples of the attributes required by a commissioner!

   

GDPR Guiding Conversation or is it a Guiding Lecture?

I completed the GDPR e-learning last week it was hard work with a lot of new information for the average leader to take on board. The e-learning started with a quiz on your current data protection practices for your unit, and despite knowing all the right answers I still got "you could do better!" The e-learning directs you to the GDPR Hub on the Girl Guiding website, which I have checked out tonight. There is some really useful information including a very extensive 7 page Guiding Conversation on Exploring the key principles of GDPR which maybe would be more aptly named Guiding Lecture. The last page of which (see below) was included in the e-learning:

The GDPR Hub also includes a training plan, ppt, handouts & resources for a comprehensive GDPR training. Serious stuff to understand and deliver.

CMI webinar: What a good idea ....

I have just joined a Chartered Management Institute, CMI, Webinar via You Tube. The trainer ran a competition on the last 2 slides, to win a free personalised assessment, by posting a photograph (the last slide). Which included the CMI logo, to be posted onto FB or Twitter with the trainers hashtag and the Statement "My biggest takeaway from today's webinar is …..", the best 5 completed statements will win an assessment. What an excellent idea and just imagine what messages GG could give Leaders to post onto their social media accounts!

Especially relevant with new programme webinars on offer at the moment.

New Programme Posters

We now have 3 gorgeous posters we can use in training and in our units, they cover:

• an overview of the badges for each section by theme
• an overview of each of the programme themes
• an overview of how to achieve a theme and a gold award

They can be customised at the Online Print Centre with your unit or other logo. They are really bright and colourful, eye catching, and will appeal to girls. Find them at https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/making-guiding-happen/celebrate-every-girl/programme-poster/

Using the new Checklists for training

We now have 3 really useful Checklists on the website coming from the "Doing our Best Standards":

1. The five Essentials (there is no page 3!)
2. Making guiding happen
3. Safety & safeguarding 

They have been produced with implementation of the new programme in mind and each claims that the "checklist will help you bring it to life in your unit", each has a series of tick boxes.

At the last County Day I laminated 5 sets of the 5E's list and provided non permanent markers & white board cleaners (next time I will pack wet wipes). As part of an "Educational" wide game in the afternoon I was 1 of 20 bases. Leaders had to do a self assessment, in groups, and not always with the people they manage units with on how they were doing implementing the checklist. Where they didn't give themselves a tick, they then discussed an action plan to be able to earn themselves a tick. I was amazed how many leaders came to talk about the 5E's (wish I had laminated more sets of the checklists), also the quality of the discussion was really high quality. Where leaders had to work with leaders who they didn't know to make a "team" there was some really good ideas being shared. We (thank you Mary, who helped explore the outcome with each team before wiping clean the laminated checklists) uncovered a few myths that still seem to be floating around e.g a brownie can't earn an interest badge until they have made a Promise.

I did wonder if the checklists were an output of the Quality pilot. They are a really useful training tool and I can see how I could use them in a number of different training environments. To locate them on the GG website search "doingourbest". 

Gloucestershire County Day 2018

This year we were in Tewkesbury, fully booked and with a really good atmosphere about the new programme. County Day was a continuation from inset week, starting with an overview session and touching on change management. I was doing one of three Brownie trainings lasting 2 hours and focusing on the remaining 3 ppt from inset week - Awards, Using the Section books & Programme Planning. The IT was simple to connect, lap-top to projector, once I had the cable and the correct icon on the smart board to get to HDMI 1!
I had 40 chairs, in 3 rows, and it was very evident that any activities requiring movement were out - discussing with your neighbour was the best that could be managed! I asked for questions as we went along, and there was plenty of them so the 26 slides were just about right. There was lots of opportunities to share experiences, and there was a scout leader in the audience who was able to compare the scout approach with GG approach, which was useful. Concerns were raised around:

• paying for the badge books
• working with a number of skill groups at once
• supporting girls to achieve interest badges
• finding the time to record achievements on GO
• photocopying
• recruiting more leaders
• finding the time to accommodate UMA's & skills builders.

I managed to pass around a variety of resources during the training:

• Transition requirements
• Recording template
• New programme guidance notes
• sample theme & interest badges (in a handy see-through pencil case)
• new Region resource "Night in the Library"
• a plug for UK Parliament week 
• Educational Framework
• Participation on a Plate
• promoted #EveryGirl as a source for ideas & PR.

I felt the session went well and I had a number of leaders who commented on how useful it had been.

I had a lovely surprise at the end of the day - see photo!

New Programme Training:adapting the GG ppt's.

These are the lessons I learned from adapting 3 of the GG ppt's (Awards, Using the section books & Programme planning):

• there are 3 refresher slides I "borrowed" from the overview ppt - the programme, the themes & the stages
• whilst the slides maintain their numbering, however I moved them around, the slide number in the bottom left corner couldn't be edited
• to adapt the ppt to be a section training I had to change the images to ensure they were brownie related, I was able to "borrow" from other slides, without resorting to the clip art on the website
• I didn't appreciate how much repetition there is across all the ppt's
• I had to perform a similar process on the training plan and decided to transfer the key notes from the notes field of the slides, to the revised training plan. Likewise by deleting the 3 section photos I didn't want, I made space to paste the scenario onto the slide for the section I did want; saving the need to distribute by paper.
• I would have liked more scenarios for each section rather than just the one provided per section
• the quality of the activities are light-weight e.g how to identify the icon's for each section "by making a human chain" are completely unusable when you have 40 leaders in the room all from the same section!
• It took about 3 hours to get a ppt & training plan to match with 26 slides for a 2 hour training.  

Thinking Day 2019

For the wannabe time traveller, looks really good, spot the 6 WAGGGS themes - is there a trend developing here? The 2019 badge makes a shape with the 2020 & 2021 badges; so you will just have to do all 3. This looks really good so much to fit into the programme these days that there is no excuse for a balanced and varied programme.

Brownies verdict on the new pogramme.

Those who really matter - the brownies, got to see the new programme and it was really well received. We looked at the 6 themes then played ladders in an attempt to wear them out. They were excited about the badges with some ums & ahs. We've decided that each leader is going to do an interest badge and present it using 1 or 2 of the 105 different ways suggested, to the brownies so they can see just what is possible. We used the giant dice to select a Unit Meeting Activity, UMA, each girl selected one UMA after their throw and summarised it for the other brownies. We  then took a vote on the ones picked and the first aid and strike a match were chosen with a vote of hands; so we will do both of these at the next meeting. Some of the girls did struggle with the child friendly language "ex-am-ined" did provide an issue in a few of the UMA's.
First night back so the girls were chatty so didn't get to talk about Skills builders; that's for next week!
All in all a very positive reception.

New Programme Evaluation 3

Yet again a fantastic turn out with around 50 Leaders who were in the main positive about the new programme - excellent to see so many future leaders in this particular audience. We had to wait for marshal arts to finish so we opted for theatre style in the end to aid the speed of set up. I think this impacted on how quickly discussion got going - slightly slower than the night before but in many ways more positive overall. It is interesting that the more times you deliver a plan the quicker you do it but that was effective as it provided more space for discussion. Lots of interest in looking at the resources and the interest badges, but what really came across was the overall will to give it a go in the new school year. More questions about the transition rules for this year. Also some really positive feedback on the webinar trainings which continue throughout the term.

New Programme Evaluation 2

Very positive atmosphere this evening - with a few mutterings - "what can't do interest badges on residentials?" It's amazing the difference the room layout makes, going for conference style over theatre works really well for creating a positive atmosphere. This audience wanted to learn and understand.
Good team training with an audience of nearly 60 Leaders, so ideally suited for team training, again raced through the training plan but that was fine as lots of opportunity for questions and to view the resources. Questions around how do to multiple activities in a unit meeting, and why interest badges couldn't be done in unit meetings.
The division provided a shop strictly for the new programme and there was a steady trade going on. My first time in that church and it is a lovely venue.
There was interest in the region publications so worth taking them along, and the giant decision dice!

We both let our presentation pointers run out of power so the lesson is to charge between trainings!

New Programme Evaluation 1

As usual it was a case of the leaders in the room had done the e-learning, read Guiding, bought the resources, booked onto County Day and knew what they are doing. It was a case of they wanted to shoot the message bearer in a nice way!

I was working to a combined programme overview & programme planning training plan which I whipped through as they had obviously done their homework. Leaving them time at the end to check out the full range of UMA's & Skills Builders & some sample badges. The words l heard a lot of were "like school" and "assessing the girl to the right stage" and of course comparison with Scouts. We debated the photocopy question and I put the official line, but I heard their wishes loud and clear. There is mixed feeling about the cost of the badge books, and I talked about the national & county hardship grants and other ways to fund the resources. One Leader was very concerned that the "Becoming a brownie" book with the brownie story is going after the transition year! There was also concern raised for those leaders who are not IT literate and we talked about other sources of support.

I had to draw on all the Being our Best research that I didn't have with me, to justify why the change, and quote the figures that the new programme has been tried and tested; and not just thought up by CHQ staff. I think maybe this element has been missed from the training plans, and wish I had time before tomorrow's training to dig up some old trainings for the content as I suspect I'm going to get the same or similar reception tomorrow.

One interesting aspect was from a Trefoil Guild member (thought they were going to get some training on the new programme?) who does a lot of work with units on guiding history and felt the UMA was going to make her contribution unnecessary as the UMA card covered it all!

It's a really hard test putting the official GG line when you agree with some of the things being said but as Trainers we have to!

Just how many hours prep goes into a new programme training?

So what preparation for the first New Programme (non pilot) training have I done, for inset week of training?

A. Completed 5 x e-learning module including following some links to web pages (3 hours)
B. Locate and read 3 times the new Guidance Notes (1 hour)
C. Printing and reading all the resources & handouts for each training but NOT the Training plans themselves as they will need to be edited according to the event (2.5 hours)
D. Locate, print and read transition guidance for each section (1 hour)
E. Understand impact of UMA message e.g not enough available yet! (0.5 hours)
F. Make 2 dice to enforce the decision making Essential (1.5 hours)
G. Reading Autumn 2018 Guiding on holiday (40 mins)
H. Laminating 6 theme cards (20 mins)
I. Scanning all 4 section badge books (2 hours)
J. Start the framework of my own unit planning so I can anticipate leaders questions on the 60%/40% suggestion; and look for opportunities to include decision making & interest badge discussion! (1.5 hours)

Around 14 hours, wow - wonder if my husband has noticed?

Another 2 trainers kindly combined the training plans & powerpoint slides for this week of inset trainings, which has saved me a huge amount of time, and ensures that all leaders in the county are getting the same training delivered this week!

Extract from "Guidance notes on organising and delivering new programme training"

And finally… our top tips for training on the programme!
1. DO ensure that volunteers have completed the Girlguiding programme overview module before the training, or you start with this – it will give your participants a basic knowledge of the whole programme in one go so that they can see how things fit together.
2. DO make sure you have the trainer FAQ handy during your trainings - and remember, if you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t panic – tell the participant you will find out by e-mailing ourjourney@girlguiding.org.uk.
3. DO ensure that when you edit the resources you keep the key messages and branding in line with our guidance.
4. DO feel assured that you don’t have to edit the resources. You can pick up and go as long as the modules meet your training requirements/the needs of the training participants.
5. DO ensure that if you edit the resources that you please share your good ideas with us via leadership@girlguiding.org.uk so we can include the best ideas in future iterations of the training resources. We love feedback.
6. DO keep programme trainings cross-sectional as far as possible to reflect the nature of the programme itself.
7. DO facilitate discussion amongst participants; you don’t need to be the expert in the room. We are all learning this together.
8. DO ask participants to “do something” wherever possible to help them engage with the training.
9. DO be enthusiastic – our programme is at the heart of what we do and makes our wonderful organisation unique and inspiring to girls and young women!
10. DO ask for feedback from your participants so we all know they are getting what they need.

Six themes decision making dice

Have I earned an "I've been creative badge" especially as its my wedding anniversary today? The first attempt in paper was a disaster, so in an attempt to make it more sturdy I laminated each side first and  then got my glue gun out! It's fairly robust but don't know how many throws it will take by my brownies (so I made 2) - but I guess as long as it does the trick, and helps them get to grips with the new themes, then its been worth it!

We all received a card template version of the die with the latest Guiding magazine (Autumn 18) but the template is available  to print off the GG website. Be aware you can still feel the heat of the hot glue through the laminated card; and the hardest part was closing the lid on the die with 3 sticky tabs to fold in. In a while I will go back and trim any sharp edges with scissors where one side sticks over another.

There is a badge drive activity on page 65 of Guiding - which is aimed at Guides & Senior section, but I'm going to adapt for my brownies. Hopefully one of the die will last long enough to show at forthcoming new programme trainings!

Programme Planning Template

Week commencing	Activities planned	Time	Themes covered
Week 1 __/__/__	Discover the new programme activity from guiding magazine                   Girls choosing unit meeting activities using dice from the guiding magazine                                             Patrol time – what interest badges are you interested in trying?                Promise activities	30 mins 20 mins 15 mins 15 mins	Know Myself □ Express Myself □  Be Well □ Have adventures □ Take Action □ Skills For My Future □ (tick themes as appropriate)

Week 1 extract from the template Programme Planner which can be found at: Girlguiding.org.uk/celebrateeverygirl . I'm using this one to start with, so I can use it to illustrate points in new programme trainings. There is also a template for a weekly record sheet to record individual girls progress during the unit meeting that can then be registered on GO at a later opportunity. Although not strictly in the plan for the awareness trainings,I think leaders will have concerns on how to record, so will need to be able to re-assure them there are processes in place.

Not enough Unit Meeting Activities (UMA's) to complete a theme award just yet!

Some clever, and really organised leaders, spotted at the start of the Summer holidays that the new programme was missing some UMA's in order for girls to complete all the theme awards. In response to a number of enquiries being received by GG put, the following guidance was added to the UMA page, and sent in a newsletter: 

"There are lots of different activities now available for units – 36 for each section. It’s not quite enough for girls to complete all their Theme awards just yet, but we won’t stop there! New packs of activities are already being developed and will be released regularly each year so there’ll always be something fresh for girls to try.

As girls focus on a range of themes they’ll build up the hours they need to get their hands on their Theme awards over a couple of years. To make sure you have a balanced and varied programme, try to mix and match activities from different themes over time. This gives girls plenty of time to make up the right number of unit meeting activity hours if they want to work towards an award.

The new programme has been designed to take up about 60% of unit meeting time. That leaves plenty of room for leaders and girls to do other activities too. These can be anything you want, including adventurous outdoor activities, games, trips and visits, and don’t need to connect to a theme. Just remember that if girls want to do a Theme award they’ll need to make up the unit meeting activity hours by doing official Girlguiding unit meeting activities".

I wonder how it will be announced that there are new UMA's available to purchase? I'm anticipating the lack of hours will come  up in forthcoming new programme trainings!
The red highlighting is mine and not GG UK's!

New Programme e-learning

All the new programme e-learning is listed here:
www.girlguiding.org.uk/making-guiding-happen/learning-and-development/programme-training/

There are 5 separate modules:

• Programme Overview
• UMA's & Skills Builders
• Interest & Anniversary Badges
• Awards
• Unit Programme Planning

Section handbooks & badge/record books is NOT available as an e-learn, only as webinar or in person.

The most useful of them all I found was the Unit programme planning module, which introduced a semi completed template to use as a model programme plan. This one also gave the most food for thought on how to implement the programme.

Much improved style of e-learning than we have ever seen before and worth spending the time to work through.

 

Guidance notes for all leaders

This is the link to the new 20 page document outlining the essential elements of the programme and how it can be implemented in your unit:
www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/programme-and-activities/guidance-notes-for-all-leaders.pdf

I would have liked to see a date on the document so we can easily see when it has been updated - rather than checking to see if the number of pages has increased! However, pleased that risk assessments get a mention on page 19 along with recording on GO, but does feel like a first draft.

UK Parliament Week 2018

Challenge Pack for 2018 Parliament Week

After being critical of the activities supplied last year with the UK Parliament Week, I am impressed to see this year's pack arrive with a Region Challenge resource which is easily deployable with Brownies. Last year I struggled to adapt the activities to brownies so used the resource with Guides instead. However for 2018 SW Region have produced a 38 page resource with a forward by our Region Chief Commissioner. The resource is broken down into 3 sections "What is Parliament", "Vote 100" and "South West England Regional Challenges" with a suggestion that a minimum of 4 activities are completed from across the 3 sections. 

There is a good range of activities for use across the age ranges (only 1 colouring sheet this time!), the resource is informative at that same time as providing templates - includes a template ballot paper this time so no need to make your own, as I did last year.  There is a set of cards for the revamp of the old favourite of rule your own Island  - where the colours could suggest use with brownies or guides. There are photographs with a guiding theme too which is another thoughtful touch. Going to be so much easier to do with brownies this year. 

The pack includes a ribbon votes for women sash (shame their is only one) and usual ballot box, photo card & pin badges but no pens this year. I'm building up a useful collection of Parliament & democracy type resources and I'm thinking how I can incorporate the ballot box(s) into girl led guiding for the girls to choose their own programme!

Don't forget to order your cloth badges as part of the evaluation survey which comes from UK Parliament outreach and NOT Region. (I didn't get the email with the survey link last year, and had to request it, so we nearly missed out on the badges!)      

Transition to the new programme - dispensation arrangements

Started doing the e-learning modules for the new programme today (overview & programme planning) and discovered there are some special transition arrangements for brownies who don't have enough time left in brownies to complete a Gold Award:
 
"Activities that Brownies have completed as part of the current programme will not normally count towards the Brownie Gold award, but until the end of the academic year 19/20 a special dispensation to this rule will apply. Instead of the requirement to complete all six theme awards, a Brownie can complete two of the three Brownie Adventure badges and one new Brownie interest badge from three of the six themes to demonstrate she has participated in a balanced and varied programme. Brownies will still need to complete the section Gold challenge".

Full text is available here: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/programme-and-activities/changeover-guidance-brownies.pdf

Hospitable welcome on launch day.

County Durham Badge

I was made to feel so welcome last Saturday, on launch day, after driving 250 miles I was desperate to see the inside of the section and badge/award books. I came straight off the A1 to catch the end of the coffee launch morning at the local trading shop. There was actually very little left to buy but 1 leader put back purchases so I could buy a copy of each and pour over them that evening. I was made to feel so welcome and had to buy the local county badge for the area I grew up in, but never ever did any guiding! Lovely atmosphere at their coffee morning though, which made me wish I had had the opportunity.

Really enjoyed going through the new resources and looking forward to planning for the new term incorporating our new programme.

Example of role play that worked well!

This week I participated in a work training delivered by an external trainer. The topic was on personal impact, the trainer came from a theatre background and did really well compressing her session down into 3 hours because of a certain football match!
After a number of warm up actor type exercises we were split into 4 groups each with a different scenario - I was a head nurse! As well as roles, picked out of a cup we each picked a playing card between ace-10 (there were no duplicates). Ace represented weak power and 10 the strongest power with regard to communications; so in my scenario the "consultant" picked a 10 and the "cleaner" was a 1. I was a 6 in the middle of the power stakes. The point of the exercise was to understand all those comms signals we take for granted and to understand how you can influence the interaction.

In the main the role play went well there were a couple in  the group who are introverts that looked terrified. One said afterwards she was glad she went first to get it over and done with. Another said if she had wanted to be an actor she would have gone into the theatre! I was reflecting why it went so well when the trainer had only known the group for less than 2 hours. I would only attempt something like this at the end of a residential weekend however, I decided it worked because as a team all the participants knew each other and we work together, so it didn't really matter that the trainer didn't really know her audience that well. In the main feedback from participants was that they enjoyed it.

The hotest training I have ever delivered!

Safe Space Level 3

I have never delivered a training so late in the school year, nor in such high temperatures - it was 29 degrees when I left Gloucester at lunch time today. I also beat my record for youngest attendee at 11 weeks old, he was gorgeous and slept through most of the training, only waking up at the end. I can deliver L3 in my sleep now, and it was an experienced group of Leaders so there was lots of good experience to share.

I was able to use my own IT and my VGA Adapter saved the day allowing me to connect my laptop to the church Projector -they had a wall mounted pull down projector screen - how lush is that! I think all trainers should be issued with a VGA adaptor - mine only cost £5-£6 and it has saved my life so many times already.

The training went smoothly - the only notable issue being in relation to the EastEnders like scenario, where the leader is pregnant by another leaders husband. This is the first time the leaders thought it was nothing to do with GG and that it was completely wrong to have to consult GG!

That's me finished training now for this school year I'm going to concentrate on my PDP for the next few weeks and get caught up with my badge blanket sewing.

 

  

Risk Assessment word version

Whilst preparing for a Safe Space Level 3 training tomorrow - I thought I would check the website to see if there was a word version of the lovely new risk template instead of the pdf one I used last time and couldn't save. The 3rd option when you do a search is a word version which can be edited and saved - so much easier. Thank you Girlguiding it makes such a difference having word versions of documents.

Presentation Clicker

I've given in and bought this presentation clicker from Amazon for £13.99 - there is a huge variation in prices. This one appears to work well and comes with a drawstring pouch for protection in my laptop case. The one comment I will say is that USB receiver in the bottom was difficult to remove and in the end I had to use a tool to slide in and pull it out. Works perfectly with my Dell laptop and PowerPoint. I was surprised to find my local computer shop didn't stock any brand and was actually quite condemning about them. This one is from Hearmarket.

Wireless Rechargeable Presentation Pointer Remote Control Presenter PPT Clicker Laser Pointer Compatible with Windows Mac OS Linux Android-rosegold 

Getting Ready for the New Programme Training Plan

Saturday was the first time I had used the revised change management training plan and I was amazed how closely the training followed the plan. I didn't like the "Communication technology changes" ice breaker so I changed it for a reflection exercise as leaders had experienced the new programme pilot trainings in the morning so they were already in the right zone to reflect! They did comment the image in the top right of the slide which I believe is a wi-fi man in a deck chair looked like a chicken! The links from the official ice-breaker are a bit weak to say the least.

I also inserted a slide with the Kubler Ross Change curve as the rest of the training is based on that theory and if you don't explain the theory its difficult to make it all stick together. We didn't play the snakes & ladders game but leaders spent a few minutes recording the cons (snakes) and a positive response (ladders). Because the numbers were on the low side, only 7 leaders, it was easy to get discussion going and there was a lot of experience in the room to share, when it came to seeing change through someone else's eyes. We ran out of time to do the resistance & potential solutions fully - we did talk about some but not to the extent the training plan suggests.

Leaders had been honest at the start in that they were looking for a way to return to their units/districts and be able to sell the new programme to them. We were able to take the time at the end to reflect on how they could use the lessons we had just discussed when they got back home.

New Programme Pilot Training with aeroplanes!

Yesterday I was down in Bristol & South Glos for their County Day on the new programme. I was doing UMA's, Skill Builders & Awards in the morning and Change Management for the new programme in the afternoon. As usual leaders from this county are on the ball and familiar with the basics of guiding. We started in the main auditorium for the overview new programme training which was cleverly done with a stand up if …. activity. I was amazed that such a huge proportion of those present had been leading for more than 10 years. The new programme bingo was an effective interactive method to present so much information but shame so many people called "bingo" at the same time!

We started earlier than I was expecting and it was a push to finish as there were so many questions, many I couldn't answer, which is never a good position to be in. Leaders were struggling to get to grips with the logistics of how the new programme will work. It would have been so much easier if I could have shown them a Skills Builder, or even just had a statement relating to how much time an average skill builder will take for brownies. Also the skill levels really need a different numbering system to the activities in the skills builders; and next time I will start off with a statement stating these are different things. We also need more detail about the recording tool as time was wasted in conjecture. I spent a lot of time scrolling backwards and forwards between the powerpoint slides describing the requirements.
 
Top constraints on the aeroplanes were in first place the cost which featured on 11 of the 16 planes. Second was lack of leaders/adults to run different activities at the same time and third was recording of both individual brownie progress and when anniversary badges are due to be awarded. We did discuss solutions and I think there will be some illegal copying occurring! They also liked my porridge pot idea of saving badges up and having a termly award ceremony to invite parents and raise the girls anticipation in order to celebrate achievements. There was one new issue that trainers had raised at the earlier pilot, which was the number of risk assessments required in a term in order to complete all the UMA's and skills builders which I had never thought of.

A few leaders are planning to start in January 2019 due to concerns that the availability of the new programme resources will be scarce because the demand will be so great on July 21st.

Additional resources I used included the Volunteer code of conduct, Participation on a plate, Girls Attitude Survey and I plugged the Region Swebots resource by showing the intermediate & advanced instructions for making a paper plane.

It was a pain having to move classrooms at lunch time but I had help to put the furniture back. I brought my own lap top but used my USB on their network which was fine but then I have to virus check the USB every time which is a nuisance.
   

An Assessor for Guiding I thought I'd be .....

Following the arrival of the Level 4 Safe Space materials this week I decided to have a sort out of my trainers box and came across this neatly produced on a Guide Association Unit Overview form by J Walker and assessed by A Record on 14.6.02!

An Assessor for Guiding I thought I'd be,
Achieve a D32 and a D33,
My candidates train Guides, Brownies too,
They plan, make resources help train the new,
A portfolio they must make,
Containing witness statements, evaluations, observations, a piece of cake,
For Guider such as those assessed
The competence level must be the best,
Kate, June & Ann excel in training,
To complete the Qualification they are obtaining,
I question, observe, advise, report,
And am always there for support,
OCR the standards set
As an Assessor I ensure they are met,
Throw nothing away that's what they are told,
E-mail, letters, session plan worth there weight in gold,
The portfolio is complete and they have done their best,
To the Internal Verifier for the first test,
The date approaches, the EV attends
The certificate of achievement CHQ sends,
A unit complete hooray, hooray,
Congratulations to all, its made my day.

Hooray for GDPR resources

If you don't already subscribe to the Discover & grow newsletter - you should. Below is an extract from this weeks newsletter published this evening: 

We're developing resources to help you get ready for GDPR

ChecklistOur checklist includes all the actions you need to take to get ready for GDPR

GDPR information
Find all the information you need so far

Keeping information safe
Our leaflet tells you what you need to know about data protection and handy dos and dont's

Handling personal data
Follow these procedures to make sure you're handling personal data appropriately. 

Managing information policyOur policy setting out how we collect and use information appropriately and store it safely.

Reporting a data breach procedure
What to do if personal data has been lost, stolen or shared inappropriately.

Personal data requests procedure
What to do if you receive a request about a person’s personal data we are using.

Check out the FAQ's too, highlights include:

• If a parent refuses to have their details stored in GO they would have to withdraw their daughters membership.
• No more yearly consent forms but termly ones are ok as long as activities and dates are kept up to date.
• Data breaches should be reported within 48 hours
• Starting section forms changing to allow you to keep part of the form with parents signature
• A home contact must be a member of GG now.
• Starting section forms are being amended to include new photo consents from May 2018 and remember photo consent finishes when the girl leaves the unit, you can still keep photos for archives but not to use publicly.
• There are guidelines being developed on using Slack, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Survey monkey etc
•  Commissioners are responsible for ensuring volunteers know about data protection guidance we all must comply with the Code of Conduct.
• Health Care Plans can not be left in meeting place cupboards, if they can be accessed by anyone outside of GG.