Growing Girl Guides in Schools

The Guides in Schools Program achieved great results in 2021 as we engaged 22 girls across two high schools in the North-West Sydney area. Quakers Hill High School participated in their first paid program following the pilot in 2020, with one teacher successfully completing their Australian Leadership & Qualification Program to become a Unit Leader in the school. Glenwood High School also participated in their initial trial period of the Program, with Leader support from the Glenwood District. Each school participated in two terms of the Program; one term delivered face-to-face, and one term delivered online as COVID-19 lockdowns saw students learning remotely during the second term.

We delivered an introductory Guides in Schools Program to each school, with the girls taking part in a range of activities that introduced them to the Australian Guide Program and its Fundamentals and Elements. The girls experienced hands on activities such as natural tie-dying, building teamwork and leadership skills through deciphering morse code messages, building ballistas, and learning lifesaving first aid skills. The second term saw the program girlled with some adaptation needed to move to online delivery. The girls chose a variety of activities for their program, including cooking with pantry staple items, learning about other cultures, and completing service activities to support their families and friends through the COVID-19 lockdown period.?

Despite the disruption from the COVID-19 lockdown, we received excellent evaluation data from the delivery of this program across the two schools. As part of our evaluation plan, we provided the girls surveys to complete prior to the program commencing and upon conclusion of the program, allowing us to compare their self rating of key target areas of the program. Our results show that, on average, participants in the Guides in Schools program had an increase in their -self rating of:

• 25% in confidence
• 16% in resilience
• 18.5% in leadership skills
• 14% in a sense of belonging
• 10% in a sense of purpose and value
• 17.7% in a belief they can make a difference

These results are a great reflection of the impact of the Guides in Schools program and Girl Guides in the community. These results also provide us with a foundation of evidence to take to engage future schools and further grow the Guides in Schools program. The statistics from this program have since been integrated as key elements to a range of social media campaigns focused on recruitment and retention. The next stage of the Guides in Schools program is now in further development, with a focus on broadening the reach of the program beyond the North-West Sydney area, and providing more flexible program options, or paid products, that will be available to more schools. We look forward to seeing this next stage come to fruition.?

*Extract from Annual Report 2021