How to sort out patrols?

[fenris]

We do get girls in termly - often 4-8 at a time. Although I know some of the girls moving up, as I run one of the feeder packs, I never know the others until they arrive, and sorting into Patrols is one of the first things they do - hence until placed in Patrols, they come as a batch!

[laura]

We took the bull by the horns this term as our patrols were getting no where fast. We held a Patrol Leader election with ALL the girls who wanted to be patrol leader standing and making a speech and holding a campaign. We sat all the girls down before the election and asked them how they wanted the patrols sorted - ie to sort themselves or for us to sort them.They decided that they wanted us to sort them into their patrols.

On the night of the election we had a polling booth (made out of card board boxes) polling cards with all the candidates names on them, a presiding officer to ensure that all votes were cast fairly, and following the speeches each girl and leader cast their own vote. To sort out the patrols each girl's name was written on an individual piece of paper so we could swap them all around and make sure that we had the correct balance in each patrol.

In fairness to the Guides they listened to the speeches and voted on the best speeches rather than thier friends.

They have now been running like this for 5 weeks and it is the most settled and productive the guide unit has been for a long time.

[Bumblebee]

I like that idea Laura. It would be great to get the possible patrol leaders to acctually think about what they would do as PL and it all seems quite fair that way.

[R.B._Babi]

when i took over with my first unit i let the girls sort themselves into 3 patrols and nominate theyr own PL and PS.
this did work to some level but now im finding that one group is of close knit school/outside friends, one group is the norty group and the 3rd one is the odd ones out who dont really have friends in guiding yet either because theyr new or because they havent paried off with anyone.
so, beign able to look back now i guess letting them chose hasnt been my best idea but it did give me the chance to see who the friends are, who the more troublesome are, who works well and who dont get one well. which means when the patrols get re-jigged in jan im gonna have a think about things.
I really like the idea Laura did of a voting system. i think this is going to be my next way of doing things. possiby vote for the 3 PL and then between the guider and the newly appointed PL actually pick the patrols. that way we'd have more control and the girls would still feel like it was all their decisions really! hmm, im thinking out loud!

[yorkie]

Loved that idea Laura and think i will give it a go in January. we have always rearranged our patrols in September and never had a problem with the girls each giving us 3 names with whom they would like to be in a Patrol.

That is until this term.

we just can't get it right. We had a group of wild ones last year and haven't got them into shape yet and now have another larger intake who are even worse. Some of the older ones are threatening to leave and for the first time ever most of the Unit are behind where they should be.

We have one newcomer who is a nightmare, arguing with all the girls and upsetting several of them. She is the sister of one of my seniors and another Guide. Both of those two have been real assets to the Units but this one is difficult and I don't know how to handle her. She has already reduced her middle sister to tears during two meetings and I have had to step in to prevent her from embarrassing her on two other occassions.

[michelle43uk]

I took over an existing unit this term and asked them to sort out their own patrols PL and PS the got on with it and picked patrols. interestingly they picked oldest as PL and they decided that all the patrols should be the same size!
we have a couple of new girls starting after Xmas so it will be interesitng to see what happens.

[laura]

We spent quite a lot of time with the girls before the election looking at what makes a good leader which definately helped.

[seanchai]

We do the same as laura, plus the Guides are given slips of paper post-voting.

We ask them to put their name at the top, and then the names of two girls they
would like to be in a Patrol with - no guarantees, as the Unit's needs tops individual needs, but we try.

Years ago, we had a girl NO-ONE wanted to be with, so we had A Chat beforehand re: Promise and Law. One Patrol absorbed her and things were fine.

Jean in Winnipeg

[Alwyn]

We've only got 6 regular attendees at the moment (we've just gained another girl who's recently moved back to the area), and we've had some trouble keeping them together and concentrating on the task.

As there are only a few of them, we've never had any Patrols. Last night we changed tack and decided that they should be in a Patrol (even if it's only one) because it gives them a sense of identity and belonging. So we held a secret ballot for PL.

One of the older girls was voted in and chose another of the older girls as her PS. But what astounded me was the speed at which they took on their responsibility. Usually at the end of the meetings, the girls are a bit loud and not focused on finishing the task, but last night (we are doing Party Planner badge using our Christmas party as the event) the girls all stayed really focused right up until the end of the meeting!

I was so proud of them!

[Trinny]

2/3 of our PL's left this term, so we got all the old PL's and PS's together and asked how they would make the patrols. They were really mature and said although they were friends they didn't want an older patrol because the younger ones would struggle. So I put them in groups, showed it to the PL's and PS's and they made their suggestions "X and Y don't get on", "A and B are friends but should be split up so A can be more independent".
The patrol leaders will have seen a lot more than you about who works well together etc, so I think it's worth asking their opinion.