Information for Parents

What is Guiding?

Girlguiding is a worldwide organisation, which young girls can join from the age of 5 and remain a member throughout their lives.

Girls are able to join any section, relevant to their age, at any time and continue through each section appropriate to their age.

Girlguiding would be unable to continue without the help of thousands of Adult Volunteers, who give up their time to run the various units. If you are interested in volunteering at your Daughters unit, please speak to the Unit Leader, alternatively please contact findaunit@girlguidingbsg.org.uk.

All new Adult Leaders work towards the Girlguiding Leadership Qualification and further trainings and development are available. Adult Leaders are aged from 18 years to 65 years (when they retire from Leadership, but can continue, as members, in the Trefoil Guild).

The four key messages in Guiding are:

We provide a unique girl-only space…
We provide a unique girl-only space where girls can be comfortable just being themselves.

We promote equality and diversity…
We aim to welcome even more members and supporters from a wider diversity of cultures and socio-economic backgrounds.

We’re relevant to today’s girls……
Guiding has always been led by the ambitions and needs of the girls of the day – how else could we be modern 100 years on.

We give girls and young women a voice…
We’ve always put girls in the lead and if they’ve needed any encouragement to voice their views, we have given it.

Safety

Safety of our girls is paramount in all of the activities we undertake.

All volunteers undergo a criminal records bureau check. We also require personal references and ask Leaders to adhere to the Girlguiding UK’s “Safe from harm” policy.

All of the activities carried out by Girlguiding are covered by liability insurance and Leaders have undertaken basic first aid training.

Forms

As with most things these days, you will need to complete and sign a form. Most units will use the “Welcome to……” leaflet, which gives you basic information about the section you would like your Daughter to join. Incorporated into this leaflet will be a personal information form, requesting information about your Daughter (name, address etc), as well as emergency contact information. The leaflet also asks for any health problems the Leaders need to know about, including allergies. There is a section on the form asking parents/guardians for permission to use photo’s taken of your Daughter during Guiding activities, which could be used for Guiding publications and websites. There is a gift aid section – this is an important part of the form and means if you pay income tax, your Daughters Unit will be able to claim 28p for every £1.00 you give in subs or donations.
Lastly the leaflet has a tear-off section which gives you contact information for the Unit Leader, details of when and where the Unit meets and phone numbers of the District and Division Commissioners.

Costs

Guiding units charge 'subs' to cover costs like equipment and the hire of the meeting place. These can be paid weekly, monthly or each term, your Unit Leader will be able to provide further information. Each unit sets the amount of `subs’, but for most units work out at less than £2 per week, which we are sure you will agree is great value for money.

For events like camp, holidays or adventure days, an extra charge is usually made; again your Unit Leader will be able to provide further information.

Every February Girlguiding carries out a census, this is a count of every girl, leader and member in Girlguiding and is completed by all units. At the same time every unit has to pay an annual subscription (capitation and county levy), which is paid to cover the day-to-day running of the association.

Some units include this payment (February 2009 the payment was £18.50 per child and £18 per leader) in the `subs’ collected, others may request this payment at the time of the Census. Your daughter’s unit Leader will be able to tell you about the amount as well as how and when you would be expected to pay.

Uniform

During her first few meetings while your daughter is trying out guiding she does not need to have any guiding clothes or books. It is up to you and your daughter's unit Leader to agree when it would be best for her to start wearing her guiding clothes and using her books.

Uniform and books can be purchased via your unit Leader or from the Girlguiding UK website. To get an idea of the cost of these items please visit the online shop. In some areas it is possible to buy guiding clothing second hand. Please ask your daughter’s unit Leader for advice.

For further information about the different sections available in Girlguiding, please use the links to the left of this page.

Volunteering

If you are interested in helping in one of our Units, please contact us findaunit@girlguidingbsg.org.uk.

There are many ways you can get involved, Unit Helper, Adult Leader, treasurer, secretary, casual help….. the list goes on. Please use the link to the left of this page for further information.