Hike, 30 March

Hello Guides!

On 30th March, we had our annual hike! This year, it was held at Sembawang Park. The purpose of this hike was to promote bonding within patrols and as a Company, as well as to allow everyone to have an enjoyable experience.

Here are some reflections from the juniors!

For one of the stations during the hike, we had to make a skit using context of the words my patrol had drawn which were "being ignored by everyone" and "knowledge is like a pair of underwear, it's good to have it but not necessary to show it off". Because of the random words we had drawn, I found it rather funny. This activity, in my opinion was rather enjoyable and unique as it was very different from the usual activities in Guides. It gave me a chance to be creative which is something I'm not and it also reminds me that Guides is not all about PT and tying lashes. The bonding opportunity provided by this station was very meaningful as well. Hence, this was personally one of my favourite stations in the hike.

For the riddle station during the hike, we were to play scissors, paper, stone with the station master and win to get a riddle to solve. The more riddles solved, the more points could be earned. I think that we did very well for the station as we did quite well for the scissors paper stone and solved the riddle quite quickly. It was very fun and interesting as I got to hear some riddles that I had never heard before and we had to work together to find the answers for the riddle quicker so it helped with team bonding.

During our hike on Saturday, we had a photo-taking station, where we had to take the most number of photos possible in 20 minutes. When posing for the photo, only one person could look at the example photo given for us to act out. Each time, a different member of the patrol instructed the rest on how to pose based on the example given. This allowed us to improve on our communication skills and ensure that we are able to give clear instructions. We also had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves very much in the process. During this station, I learnt to give instructions step by step and ensure everyone is working together so we would be able to quickly get into the pose to take the photo within a short time. During the cup stacking station, we split our patrol into three teams, each with an equal number of patrol members from each batch. This allowed us to bond with all our patrol mates from different batches and was a good chance for us to get to know each other better. We were tasked to stack cups and plates as quickly as possible. However, the wind was very strong and we faced some difficulties in trying to ensure that the “tower” would not fall over due to the wind. Hence, we had to block the wind and build the tower. This helped me to realise how important manpower allocation is as the task would not be accomplished if there was no one assigned to block the wind as the cups and plates would keep falling over. This showed us that without allocating people to different tasks, it would be difficult to complete tasks.

For the post it station at the hike, we were supposed to find post it's hidden around the playground and answer a riddle on the corresponding post it. We were also given a disability such as having our arms or legs tied together. With our movement restricted, we had took work together to be able to find the post it's. We would then also have to use our creativity to figure out the riddle to get the points. This station taught me the value if teamwork and perseverance. Without working together with my patrolmates, we would not have been able to find the post it's quickly or efficiently.

Hope that everyone had fun at the hike and made new memories with each other! :)

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

YA Skills Training, 29 March

Hello Guides!

On 29 March, the Young Adults(YAs) were in charge of the 集合, organising a mini OJ which the Year 4s would participate in together with the Year 3s! The Year 1s and 2s were away to earn their Total Defense Badge, so they would not be participating with the Year 3s and 4s.

Here are some thoughts from the Year 3s:

Overall, I feel that we carried out inspection quite well. We were quite well organised and we laid our the logistics before the timings ended so we had more time to cross check to see if anything went wrong. However, I feel that we should be less noisy the next time we have inspection so that we will be able to listen to the person who is giving instructions. For the activity with the 配备s on the tree, we were given 10 minutes to complete the activity. However, we took a long time to think of a solution to elevate the 配备s, resulting in us having only 3 minutes to carry out our solution. Luckily, we were able to complete the activity with the given time. I felt that we were quite creative as we were able to think of the solution that required the least amount of time but still kept to the criteria. In the future, I hope that we are able to come up with a solution quicker so that we have more time to attach and stabilise the 配备s onto the tree.

For station 1, we were told to build a structure to shelter our 配备 and given 30 minutes to complete it. Our group discussed and decided to build a tripod with netting. Given that we had more than enough time to complete the structure, we did not exactly have a sense of urgency when tying the tripod as we thought we had sufficient time. However, when they suddenly threw us a unexpected scenario to 拆掉 our structure and still build it within the time limit, we then realised that we had insufficient time. In the end, although we did not manage to complete our structure within the time limit, we still learnt that we should always be prepared for unexpected circumstances or scenarios when leading and learn to adapt efficient. Although given more than enough time, we should have kept our sense of urgency throughout the activity so that we would still have completed our structure. However, one good point I think we did well was keeping our morale high throughout the activity and face each unexpected circumstance with positivity.

For the station 2 of Friday’s 集合, we had to collect post-it notes around the GSL and then build two structures while following the instructions on the post-it notes. The two groups were then further split into two and one group was to do a physical training set while the other worked on the structures and they were to swap after 15 minutes. The rationale was to help communication within the two groups however, we did not do very well. We did not tell each other the tasks often and thus lead to us being confused. We started off quite slowly due to a lack of urgency and did not 报时 or cheer enough. We did not manage to finish the structures in the end. I feel quite disappointed in our performance as I feel that we could have done better.

For station 3 we were given various tasks to do before a certain timing such as starting a fire and transporting a casualty. The tasks were to be completed on different levels and we had to send 3 people to solve a puzzle every 6 minutes. It was a challenging station because we had to juggle between many tasks and have good communication skills to organise who was going to do which task. Furthermore, we had to be able to make use of our surroundings such as using the railings to build the shelter. We also had to be very aware of the time to be able to send out people at the right times and complete tasks in time. 

On last Friday's 集合, we had station games planned by our YAs. For station 4, we were to split our group into two and split that group further into two. For the station we had to do PT while searching for post its that will have instructions for our tasks. From this PT, I realised that I was really unfit and should exercise more to keep my fitness up to standard. My group then firstly had to start building a baggage rack and were to swap with another group to do PT. Between the intervals, we were given a 15 seconds slot to inform one another of our current task. However, I felt that I did not make use of it effectively as I only told them what to do for the structure without asking them what PT we needed to do. Hence I was a little disappointed in myself for this station. In addition, I felt that my sense of time had gone down as although we had constant 报时 we were not aware that we had to swap every five minutes. Therefore, because of all these, I felt that this station had given me a chance to acknowledge and realise what I was lacking and provided me with room for improvements. 

Hope that everyone found this 集合 a fruitful one!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

Skills Training, 15 March

Hello Guides!

On 15 March, we decided to introduce Camp Development(Camp D) to the Year 1s! In this 集合, the Guides would have a miniature Camp D to introduce to the Year 1s what a campsite looks like as well as teach them about pioneering. Before that, however, they had inspection.

Inspection

The priority of this inspection is for the Year 1s to learn how inspection is done. Patrols will be doing 2 layouts. For the first layout, patrols will be laying out 配备 logistics. During this first layout, the Year 2s and 3s of the patrol will be explaining each step of the inspection and telling the Year 1s things to note during inspection, such as 照顾好东西、照顾好人 and standardisation.

For the second layout, the patrols will be laying out both the 配备 and the activity logistics. The Year 1s will layout the 配备 logistics by themselves. The appointed Patrol Leaders and Patrol Seconds will guide the Year 1s along if they need help. The Year 4s will guide the Year 1s if needed as well. As for the Year 2s and 3s, they will be laying out the activity logistics. This is for the Year 2s and 3s to practice doing inspection with logistics other than 配备 logistics and for the Year 4s to check if each patrol has taken the correct number of logistics.

Sufficient time will be given for each layout so that juniors can focus on doing inspection correctly and neatly, instead of doing inspection in a fast but messy manner.

Reflection by Year 3s:

Firstly, we had inspection. We were asked to layout items in the 配备 and then both 配备 and Camp D logistics. We were given more time than usual as it was the first time that the Year 1s had inspection. We tried our best to teach the Year 1s things to take note of and how inspection works as well as lay out the items within the time limit. I think that it is important to teach the Year 1s about inspection so that they will be able to quickly familiarise themselves with it and know the aim behind it, which is to layout all logistics so that we can easily see what we have when it is arranged neatly. Next, we had to layout all 配备 and Camp D logistics. A difficulty that we faced was having insufficient space to layout the items. I think we could have had better communication amongst patrols so this problem could have been avoided. We also could have planned ahead and started each patrol’s layout according to how much space we would need by estimation. Another problem we faced was that we did not listen to the instructions given across patrols during inspection as we were too noisy. Hence, we should have quietened down to listen to one person who is explaining the layout. Due to the lack of efficient communication, we had to ask for a time extension.

For the inspection, we did not do very well and we should have given more opportunity to the Year Ones to have hands-on experience. We were first given a time limit of 10 minutes to teach the Year Ones how inspection worked and laying out the 配备. I feel, as PS, I should have stepped up more and be louder, as well as let the Year Ones do the placing of logistics more. After that, we were also did the inspection again with the logistics needed for building the kitchen table, shoe rack and dome tent and only the Year Ones were allowed to touch the items from the 配备 in order to make sure they got the experience of doing inspection. We should have had more foresight when laying out the logistics as we later had to move the layout because of lack of space. Some items also got kapped and it showed our lack of awareness. We also didn’t manage our time good enough and it resulted in us needing more time than would have been necessary and thus needing time extensions.

Mini Camp D

After finishing inspection, the patrols will start on their mini indoor campsite. Each patrol will build one Kitchen Table, one dome tent and one shoe rack. Patrols will be given 55 minutes to complete their structures. The Year 4s will be leading and instructing the patrol, while the Year 2s to 3s focus on guiding the Year 1s on building.

Reflection by Year 3s:

Next, we built a dome tent, shoe rack and kitchen table. Due to our lack of manpower, our patrol built the structures quite slowly. We found it difficult to complete the kitchen table especially as we had insufficient manpower. However, we tried our best to work quickly and tried to split manpower so we could at least finish two of the structures. Towards the end of the time limit given, other patrols came over to help and we were able to complete our structures with their help. I think it is important that we learn to work as efficiently as possible especially when there is little manpower. For example, we could have divided tasks for patrol members to complete to reduce the number of people not doing anything. Pairing up Year 1s with Year 2s would also help the Year 1s to learn along the way as we complete the structures as the Year 2s can explain and walk them through the steps. We also had to ensure that the Year 1s who were relatively unfamiliar with the structures, could understand what we were doing and learn along the way. We spent more time building the structures but this also allowed us to teach the Year 1s step by step.

For the building of the dome tent, kitchen table and shoe rack, I feel that we did not have enough sense of urgency at the start which caused us to use too much time to do stuff which should have taken much lesser time to finish. We also got to learn how to build the dome tent as we were quite unfamiliar with how to set it up. We only managed to finish building the kitchen table after quite some time extensions. I feel we could have 报时 and cheered more to boost morale and prompt ourselves to do things faster. We also could have tied tighter lashes as lashes are important in making sure the structure is stable and if it was too loose, we could have been injured thus it is important and it is a thing we could have done better.

Reflection by Year 3s on the overall 集合:
On Friday, we had inspection, followed by building of dome tent, shoe rack and kitchen table. For our first inspection, we were given 10 minutes to lay everything out so that we will have time to teach the Year 1s more about inspection. However, I feel that in a rush to try to get everything done correctly and efficiently, I had neglected my Year 1s and left my Year 2s to introduce them to inspection. I feel that I could have improved in this area. We then had inspection for all our logistics. This time, it was much more rushed and chaotic, hence due to the noise, we could not really hear what the person giving us information on where to put our things clearly. This led to us working slower and overrunning. In addition, my sense of urgency could be improved and I could have been more aware of the logistics needed as my patrol took three extra gadget poles, resulting in some patrols not having sufficient gadget poles. I think that I should have been more aware of my surroundings and realised this mistake which had caused much confusion for everyone. Afterwards, we were to build the various structures. I was tasked to help with the kitchen table. While building, I was given the opportunity to talk to my Year 2s and tie the required lashes quickly at the same time. I felt that not only had I bonded more with my juniors but I was also given the opportunity to familiarise myself with this structure that we will be building during PLTC. After completing the structure, I felt very accomplished and satisfied as I felt that I had worked rather quickly. However, there is still rooms for improvement as I could have ensure that the tripods were facing each other directly so that the table board need not be put at an awkward angle. Overall, this 集合 was rather meaningful and enjoyable.

Through inspection and the building of the shoe rack and kitchen table, it made me step up more as I needed to lead my juniors. The building of the structures also allowed me to refresh my memory on how to build them, which would benefit me greatly as PLTC is coming, and I barely got to build a kitchen table these 2 years, so I had managed to take away much from this 集合. Sadly, the dome tent my patrol took was damaged and there were no more dome tents left for us to replace with, so we did not get to build them, which was a pity. Our patrol was the first to complete everything, so we were proud of ourselves upon completion.

Hope that this 集合 gave the Year 1s valuable insight into how to carry out inspections and build a mini campsite!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

Patrol Activity, 11 March

Hello Guides!

On 11 March, we had patrol activities. Here are some thoughts from the Year 3s of each patrol:

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 1:

During today’s PA, we did lash training but it was modified into a mini competition. We were split into 4 different groups and try to tie as many square lashes and diagonal lashes in 30 minutes. During thus this we were told to constantly 报时 but I noticed that only the Year 3s and some Year 2s did. The Year 1s are still quite shy so they may feel uncomfortable with shouting loudly and so our patrol hopes to help them become more open. At the end of the activity the YAs came over to provide some valuable advice and teach us some techniques to tie tighter lashes as well as the importance of doing so. Through this, our patrol has learnt to tie tight lashes while cheering at the same time. During the lash practising session, I feel that the Year 2s could have done better in terms of the tightness and the speed of their lashes being tied. Afterwards, our PL found 8 loose lashes and we had to do PT as forfeit. We also had a lot of PT, which added up to 15 burpees, 55 jumping jacks, 6 min leg raise, 2 lengths of lunges, 3 min 站马 in total. Though it was tiring, it trained our endurance and allowed our patrol to bond even closer. It wad also a good opportunity for the Year 1s to know out patrol better.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 2:

For PA, we did a baggage rack. The Year Twos and Year Ones were to build the baggage rack and we, the Year Threes, were supposed guide them through how to tie the baggage rack. For the first time, we did not do very well as our lashes were loose, we did not manage our time properly as well as had a low sense of urgency and resulted in not having enough time to finish the structure. Logistics got kapped and we also didn’t cheer as enthusiastically and together as we should and we didn’t 报时 enough. We measured it wrongly and it resulted in our baggage rack being slanted. We tied the baggage rack a second time and managed to tie it faster and made it less slanted. The lashes were not as tight as it should be but was still tighter than before. We had also forgotten to tuck in the 绳尾 and I feel that we should try to remember that. We still didn’t cheer loud enough though. The Year Ones learnt more on how to tie the baggage rack, year twos learnt to step up more and we learnt how to macro-manage.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 4:

On Monday’s PA, my patrol, P4, combined with P6 to build a see saw. However, as we did not allocate manpower properly, the time spent was inefficient and we could have assigned tasks to patrol members according to what could be done at the time so as to reduce the number of people not doing anything.This resulted in us 过时ing, and having to ask for 3 time extensions. I think this would not have been necessary if we planned out our time well and allocated manpower well. we could also have had a better sense of urgency to be able to complete the see saw in time. However, I think it was still fun at the end of the day as we were able to interact and bond with other patrols as well as members from our own. We had a lot of fun teaching the Year 1s how to build structures such as the seesaw with the 木 as they were relatively new to it.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 5:

For our last patrol activity of the term, we first started off with building a baggage rack, but only two people can build it at one time and everyone else has to do physical training. There is a rotation every five minutes and originally, we were given 25 minutes to finish the structure. Through this, our Year 1s learnt how to differentiate the different types of gadget poles during the collection of logistics, and it was reinforced to them regarding how to tie a baggage rack. There were areas of improvement for all of us, for example our lashes had to be tighter, and we could have worked faster as at the start, we were a bit slow, and hence we were given an extra five minutes for everyone to finish up the structure. We could also be more careful in taking our gadget poles to tie the structure as we used the wrong pole for the 顶脚. After that, we had to find nine post its which tested us on our knowledge of certain first aid skills, trekking signs, and survival knowledge, with the addition of some 团 and patrol knowledge. Through this, we were all familiar with all these things as those who did not know the answer could learn through this activity. Lastly, we had patrol corner where our patrol talked and bonded together for around 30 minutes while the Year 3s were called out one by one by our Year 4s regarding our leadership roles. I have enjoyed this PA a lot as I felt that this bonded our patrol together and we got to know our new Year 1s better.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 6:

On Monday, my patrol had combined 集合 with P4 and we were tasked to build a see saw. After collecting the necessary logistics, we started building the structure. To my surprise, I was chosen to be the PL this time and I was a little afraid that I would not be good enough or that I would mess things up in the end. However, it was thanks to the patience of my seniors and the cooperation of my and P4's patrol that I was able to go through this rather smoothly. I am very thankful that my seniors gave me this chance to try to lead as I often do not step up as much. Personally, I feel that this had provided me with the needed extra confidence and allowed me to hone my leadership skills as well as to look at the bigger picture of things. In addition, from this activity, I had learnt to have a greater sense of urgency and a greater sense of time. After building the see saw, we got the chance to sit on it and play for a while. Overall, I had a lot of fun and I feel that it was a truly meaningful experience.

Hope that this was an enjoyable experience for all!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary