Blog / April 20th, 2020
REMOTE & VIRTUAL GUIDING SUPPORT
Welcome to our remote & virtual guiding support blog, it includes support and resources for all leaders to assist with guiding at this time. Full ideas on how to keep in touch with your unit, delivering online meetings, if you wish to and information for you to download and send to parents in a ‘newsletter’ format.
There will be additional resources introduced over the coming weeks which will be shared in our monthly region newsletter, ‘Signpost’. If you don’t already receive this please review your marketing preferences on GO.
It’s okay to just be
At Anglia region we are aware that many of you are taking a break from guiding during the coronavirus lock down. If you are feeling under pressure to achieve while you are in lock down, remember that the most important thing you can do right now is look after yourself and your family. It’s okay just to be.
Remote guiding support
If, however, you are wanting to send something to your girls, but are struggling for time and ideas, then we have put together a series of section support newsletters for unit leaders to pick up and use.
These simple support newsletters can be sent to your girls’ parents, using the normal guidance for communicating with parents. These can be used standalone or you can add your own unit specific activities and/or ask the girls to send you evidence for the badges, changing them as you wish.
These are the first in a series of four, each set containing newsletters tailored to each specific section, prepared especially for you. The following info sheets will be sent to you approximately every 3 weeks, two per half term. These will be numbered, rather than dated, so please feel free to just send them out in number order within your own timescale.
Section support newsletters – set 1
Section support newsletters – set 2
Section support newsletters – set 3
Section support newsletters – set 4
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future content, then please contact us using the link below.
Online guiding & virtual unit meetings
Online guiding is something that some leaders have embraced, however this is not a requirement or expectation. It is completely optional.
If you do want to give online guiding a go, but need help getting started, we have put together a range of ‘how to’ guides to get our members going with conferencing and streaming platforms. The how to guides feature Zoom, Facebook Live and Microsoft Teams, with the authors having used them for their own unit meetings over the past few weeks. You can have a look and try the one that best suits you, they are not section specific.
Whilst we don’t endorse any specific platform we have included on each guide how to use the platform as securely as possible. Please read the terms and conditions of your chosen platform and risk assess as you would for any non-virtual meeting. It is essential to be safe and secure and parents will also make their own decisions on their child’s participation as they do for any guiding activity.
You can find more general information on access to permission forms, policies and getting started with online guiding and virtual unit meetings with the link below.
Helpful resources
Some of our region volunteers have shared some of their virtual session plans with us which you can also access from the Girlguiding Anglia website.
An update from Girlguiding about coronavirus can be found online alongside answers to FAQ’s about guiding during the lock down.
Please remember that you are not expected to move your guiding online – we understand if you would rather take a break until things return to something more normal. It’s important that you all take care of yourselves and your families at the moment.
Anglia region is here to help you, so please get in touch if you need us