Hike, 23 March 2024

 Hi Guides!

During the first weekend of the new term, our Guides Annual Hike was conducted at Fort Canning. The hike consisted of 6 station games all around the park, and we ended the activity off with mass games. Here are some reflections from some Guides about their day!

Reflection from a Year 1 in P2:

During the hike at Fort Canning, I learnt a lot more about the people in our patrol. It also helped me to open up to everyone and also get closer to Shermaine. The game that was the most memorable for me was when I carried Shermaine and Wan Ting as it was fun! I was surprised that Wan Ting managed to carry Shermaine and run three rounds. It was a super hot day. I also learnt more about Singapore's trading history at En Xii’s station game which helped me in my history WA2. Another station game that I also enjoyed was when we had to play a game of charades. We had to be able to understand each other and effectively communicate without making any noise. It was really funny to see us act and Wan Ting and Cheryl’s random guesses. Apart from getting to know our patrol mates better, I also made new friends from the other patrols and got to know them more. Overall, this experience going to Fort Canning was very enjoyable and memorable, and I’m beyond excited for the next few annual hikes to come!

Reflection from a Year 1 in P4:

On 23 March, we Year 1s had our first annual hike. I can remember my friends and I waiting for the upcoming hike with our seniors. We gathered at Fort Canning and carried out our activities as a patrol. I fondly remember a few activities that were carried out there. The first one was leading our patrol mates around the lighthouse. From this activity, we learned how to communicate with one another effectively to complete the challenge and we also learned to trust each other to guide us around since the patrol mate at the front had her eyes closed. The seniors also made the game more exciting by posing more obstacles for us. This also taught us to persevere through challenges and difficulties. The second game was about getting the marble into the bucket with bamboo sticks. The hardest part was to get over humps on the bamboo sticks. However, after many tries, we managed to get the marble quite a far distance, just not into the bucket. I believe that if we were given a little more time, we would surely be able to get the marble into the bucket. The whole event was not only about games, we also had a chance to learn about the history of Singapore, which gave us more knowledge of early Singapore. From this experience, I learnt to persevere and do my best. I also learnt the importance of teamwork and effective communication between members.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P1:

On 23 March, we had our Annual Hike at Fort Canning. As the area was unfamiliar to us, we got lost looking for our first Station Game, but subsequently managed to find it with the help of our seniors. There were 6 Station Games in total, many of them involving team-building activities and trivia quizzes. As I was the only Year 3 present, I had to constantly backtrack to make sure we did not leave any of our juniors behind. Overall, the games were very fun and creative, allowing us to bond as a patrol while also testing our Guides knowledge. Interestingly, there were many chickens at Fort Canning, which was a rare sight for us and caused a lot of excitement. The hike allowed us to experience nature amidst our generally sedentary lifestyles, allowing us to participate in outdoor activities in a fun and engaging way. After Station Games, we played a few rounds of Mass Games. Overall, I feel that this hike really helped our Year 1s to open up and involve themselves more, with P1 winning the overall prize for most points earned in the end. It was certainly a very memorable experience that I am grateful for.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P3:

Fort Canning is a place that I used to frequent when I was younger so I was thrilled when I learned that our Annual Hike would take place there. On the day of our hike, despite the heat and humidity, my patrol and I were really excited. Our journey started at the station where we took notes on the archeological site and answered the questions posed later. We struggled here, focusing too much on the details and not covering enough ground. I realised that my patrol could have done better in this aspect, and we should have had better time management. Moving on, we tackled the ‘Water Pong x Memory’ game with ease. Following the game, the next stations flew by. I think my favourite activity of the day would be the Lighthouse Challenge where we took turns carrying our Year 1s and avoiding little coloured circles on the ground. Another highlight would be when we were playing the ‘Transfer Ping Pong Ball’ game and we were interrupted by a film crew needing “happy children running” scenes, which we gladly participated in. We ended off the day with 团 games, which were quite exciting and challenging, and finally photo taking. Despite my patrol’s 5th-place finish, I felt accomplished. My efforts to motivate the team, bond with new members, and keep spirits high paid off. This hike strengthened our bond, and I am eager for the next one.

Hope everyone had fun today exploring the park, and also bonded well with their patrolmates and batchmates during the hike!

Published by:

Chin Yan Tong

55届 Secretary

Values-In-Action @ GSSC, 11-12 March 2024

Hello Guides!

During the March Holidays this year, on 11 and 12 Mar, Guides visited Good Shepherd's Student Care Centre for VIA. Different patrols conducted different activities with the children there, which include baking, crafts and carnival. Here are some reflections done by the Guides who conducted each activity. 

Baking:

One of the activities conducted was baking, where Guides worked together with the children at the centre to bake cookies, allowing them to meet new people and learn a new skill at the same time. 

Reflection from a Year 1 in P5:

During CCA in March for VIA, my batch mates and I went to Good Shepherd's Student Care Centre to teach younger girls how to bake cookies. I was very excited yet nervous to teach them as I would be a teacher for the first time! At first, we were split into groups to teach the different batches, and preparations were made by separating different ingredients and their respective amounts into cups. After that, we read the instructions one more time, and soon the juniors came. Throughout the whole process, the juniors were messy but the great news was that they were having fun mixing in all the ingredients.  They even got to wear gloves to mix the cookie dough into balls before popping them in the oven. My patrol and I were guiding them along, teaching them the specific instructions step by step. Even though sometimes, they did not really cooperate, we were still patient in guiding them along. The cookies that we baked were delicious and all the hard work had paid off. Even though my batch mates and I faced some challenges, we were glad that we could overcome them.

Reflection from a Year 2 in P5:

For the March Holidays Values In Action programme, we headed to Good Shepherd's Student Care Centre. During the preparation at Good Shepherd's Student Care Centre, we feel that communication could have been better as there was some confusion, especially due to the changes in the recipe. Nonetheless, the Patrol was able to start the Baking Session promptly. During the Baking Session for the Primary 4s, we noticed some forms of exclusion among the students. Furthermore, some students were unwilling to cooperate with us. We could have done better by trying to foster a more inclusive environment for the students and be slightly stricter with them if they were unwilling to listen. However, during the Baking Session for the Primary 5s, we managed to get them to cooperate and be patient with one another. Additionally, we managed to ensure that no one got left out during the baking process. Unfortunately, due to carelessness, some of the cookies got badly burnt. Nevertheless, the students were willing to share their cookies and no one left empty-handed. Overall, the Baking Session was a meaningful experience as we understood the importance of communication and inclusivity. 

Crafts

Another activity done by Guides and the children at Good Shepherd's Student Care Centre was Crafts, where Guides taught the younger girls some arts and crafts, giving them bonding opportunities. 

Reflection from a Year 2 in P3:

The Crafts VIA session we had on the 11th of March at Good Shepherd Student Care Centre was very enjoyable! At first, my group only had two people, including me. Our job was to teach seven little girls some crafts we had just learned. Unfortunately, the two of us had difficulty handling the children at first. We felt overpowered and overwhelmed as the girls were all incredibly energetic and loud. Luckily, one of my seniors joined us from another table. With her help, we managed to handle the kids better and bond with them over the crafts! Still, we faced some challenges. We realised that the instructions for the activities were too complicated for some of the children to understand. For example, making pipe cleaner petals was tricky for some of them. We were thus required to explain it over and over. Fortunately, some of the girls were able to grasp the concept quickly and help teach their friends, making it easier for us. The second activity, folding origami bookmarks, was simpler. The children could mostly do it on their own, which was great. We also got better organised as a group. We divided the tasks evenly and made sure each child got attention. This helped the children learn better and make lots of bookmarks. They even informed us that they would be giving these bookmarks to their friends and family! Overall, it was a really meaningful experience for me. I learned to be more patient and I hope that I had provided the girls with a fun afternoon. I look forward to the next VIA at the centre, and I hope I can help out even more next time.

Carnival

The last activity held at the centre was a carnival organised by Guides for the children, where they played different games and collected stamps in order to receive prizes.

Reflection from a Year 1 in P4:

On 12 March 2024, all the guides went to a childcare center to plan a carnival for the primary school students. When we reached the childcare center, we had to first make space for ourselves to set up the stations. To do this, we had to move the tables and benches in the canteen aside. After we completed the task, we had to go to our respective stations and start setting them up. My station was the mini bowling station. The bottles that the children were supposed to knock down contained a little water, just to stabilize it and not make it too easy for the students. Furthermore, we arranged it in a 3-2-1 arrangement. When the carnival started, the students formed a long line in front of our station and we had to give each group of players a time limit so that we would be able to let the kids at the end of the line have a chance to play! As I was running around, my energy was quickly drained and when Kayla saw that I looked tired, she told me to take a short break. After I took about a 5-minute break, it was time for the students to go back to class. As the students were sitting down in a big space in the canteen, we were asked to stand before them and their “thank you"s really warmed our hearts.

Hope everyone had fun during the past 2 days and learnt something new from the experience!

Published by:

Chin Yan Tong

55届 Secretary

Patrol Activity, 4 March 2024

 Hello Guides!

Today was the last Patrol Activity of the term, and here are the reflections from the secretaries of each patrol!

Reflection from a Year 3 in P1:

During Patrol Activity (PA) on Monday, we were tasked to build a gadgeting version of a gateway. During the collection of logistics, we sorely misremembered the number of 中木 we had to collect, ending up with 16 instead of the intended 6. This was much to the amusement of our seniors. However, this turned out to be somewhat helpful, as some of the other 木s were not of appropriate lengths and had to be substituted with 中木s. During the building of the structure, our progress moved at a rather slow rate at times. Hence, I feel that we could have definitely worked faster, taking note of the proportions and alignments more actively. This would have prevented any need for redoing or shifting lashes, saving us time. We should also have looked out for our Year 1s more, keeping them in the loop and encouraging them. In the end, we managed to complete the structure with a few time extensions. Afterward, we played a quick game that required us to recall what we knew about each other. This helped the Year 1s to speak up more while having fun. Overall, PA was a fulfilling and exciting experience.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P2:

On Monday,  we had Patrol Activity (PA). We were required to build a gadgeting swing. This was a new structure for us as we have only learnt to build the pioneering swing but not the gadgeting swing. The Y3s had to take turns being the PL every 10 minutes. We had to tie two tripods to support the swing. After tying the tripods, we had to retie the tripod lash as it was loose. This wasted our time as we could have tied a tighter lash at first to use the time more effectively. While we were doing the 顶角s, we did not take measurements properly. This caused the sides of the tripods to be unequal which made the structure unstable. As a result, we had to undo some lashes and readjust the 顶角s. We also could have 报时 more to improve our awareness of time and have a better sense of urgency to work faster in the future.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P3:

On the 4th of March, the Patrol Activity was very fun and enriching. I could tell that the seniors had put a lot of thought and effort into planning what to do, and I appreciate it very much. Our instructions were to build a gadgeting swing with P2. I think that we worked harmoniously together, our shared ambition to complete our structure on time allowing us to form a certain bond.  Unfortunately, we had a bumpy process when building our structure. When we had gotten all the logistics from 团部 and were about to start, we realised that we were missing one of our 中木s. We thus could not start building our structure as we required that 中木 to build the tripod. As a result, a lot of time was wasted to go back to 团部 to get that 中木. However, we improvised and decided to make the swing seat first and then attach it to the swing, later on, to prevent wasting time. To ensure that this problem does not happen again, in the future, someone can stand at the door and check whether all the logistics have been taken. We also had to change Patrol Leader and Patrol Second every 10 minutes. When it was my turn to lead, I struggled, especially when asking my juniors to 报时 and cheer. I will try and guide my juniors to do so with more practice leading them. The tripods were another issue as they were not tight enough when we tied it. This caused our stricture to be quite unstable. To improve, more emphasis should be given to tripod lashes during lash training. In the end, we managed to build the structure with little 过时. Overall, we could have had a better sense of urgency but we all had fun doing this activity and taking pictures with the swing once completed. To my pleasant surprise, the swing worked and was aesthetically pleasing to us all. In conclusion, PA was enjoyable and it helped me to bond with the new Year 1s too. 

Reflection from a Year 3 in P4:

On 4 March, for Patrol Activity (PA), we were supposed to do pioneering, which I was really excited about as it would be the Year 1s first taste of pioneering. Many of the Year 1s had mentioned the pioneering structures during the Orientation showcase so I am sure they were thrilled to try it out too. However, because of the wet weather, we had to go with an alternative for PA—Physical Training (PT) and patrol games. This PA gave us a chance to bond more with our Year 1s as we got to teach them things like cheers and we got to talk to them and find out more about them than we would have in a 集合 where we had to work with gadgeting and pioneering 木s. During this PA, we also got to improve our patrol spirit by cheering each other on and constantly looking out for each other. During the laps we had to run around the General Science Lab block, we constantly cheered to keep up the morale and we reminded each other to 等人 so that everyone would be together at all times. As for games, we played games like Human Entanglement and a game that involved us having to attempt to replicate the group pictures that were shown to us. Human entanglement allowed us to work together to free the entire patrol from entanglement. Thus it was a great opportunity to work on our teamwork and communication as a patrol. The second game was my favourite as it gave us tangible memories to keep in the form of pictures. Overall, this PA was really memorable! 

Reflection from a Year 3 in P5:

On the last Patrol Activity of the term, my patrol's original plan was to do pioneering. But due to bad weather, we did creative gadgeting instead. We were first tasked to build a Baggage Rack within 35 minutes and then build a creative structure that has something to do with food. Us Year 3s taught our juniors, particularly the Year 1s, more basic knots, and lashes we usually use in guides, such as netting and rafting which they had never encountered before. During the building of the Baggage Rack, we could have cheered more to keep our morale up and 报时 more often to not overrun the timings given to us by our seniors. Overall, we took 45 mins to build a Baggage rack. Our lashes could have been tighter and neater to prevent the structure from swaying. For creative gadgeting, my patrol made fries using a quadpod and an 'M' to represent McDonald's. Overall, this PA was refreshing as it gave us a chance to revise our building of the standard gadgeting structures and fun as it gave us a chance to bond more as a patrol. 

Reflection from a Year 3 in P6:

During our second Patrol Activity with the Year 1s on 4th March, Monday, we were tasked to plan a Creative Structure and lead the patrol in building the structure we have come up with. We planned to build a mini slide with a ladder attached to the box tower, and we got inspiration from the Creative Pioneering structure from Orientation Preparation (OP), which was a playground with a slide and swing. During the collection of logistics, we moved quickly and managed to complete the task within the time given. However, instead of taking the 白绳 box, we accidentally took the flag kit, causing us to have to go back to 团部 to retrieve the 白绳 box. Meanwhile, we borrowed 白绳 from Patrol 1 so that we could start building our structure. We were given 30 minutes to complete our creative structure, but as some of our lashes were not very tight, we had to 重抽 some of them, taking up some time. Through this activity, we learnt that when planning structures, we need to consider the proportion of the 木s and structures. 

Hope everyone had fun today!

Published by:

Chin Yan Tong

55届 Secretary

Skills Training, 1 March 2024

 Hi Guides!

Today, while the Year 1s and Year 2s headed to the Singapore Discovery Centre to complete their Total Defence Badge, the Year 3s built Kitchen Tables, in order to train their hard and soft skills for the upcoming PLTC, which was followed by batch corner where they reviewed their batch goals and reflected on how to improve as individuals and as a batch.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P1:

During 集合 on Friday, the Year 3s had to build Kitchen Tables (KT). We were first split into two groups, where each group was tasked to finish a KT in 50 minutes. Once we started building the KTs, we realised that we had left some logistics behind, and some people had to be sent to retrieve them. As we did not 照顾好东西, we had to start the KT with less manpower, thus causing our building process to slow down. Additionally, we had also not kept to our targeted timings and took 20 minutes to finish a tripod. Lastly, although we had managed to finish our KTs at the end, we still 过时-ed by 7 minutes. All in all, we could have greatly improved our speed and worked with a better sense of urgency. This would have allowed us to stick to our targeted timings better and finish the KTs within the given time. We could have also improved on our lash standards, by tying faster and tighter, which would help our KT be of better quality. We have room for improvement and this 集合 was a good learning opportunity for us, especially since only the Year 3s were involved in the building of the structure.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P2:

On 1 March, the Year 3s had to do pioneering. We were originally supposed to do Kitchen Shelter, however, there was a lightning alert and we had to change to Kitchen Table. All of us were mixed and split into 2 groups, with 2 people from each group stepping up as PL and PS. We were given 50 minutes for the entire structure. We started by tying 2 tripods. However, one of the tripods was loose and we had to retie it. Meanwhile, we 起-ed the other tripod and started tying the 顶角s. While we were doing the 顶角s, some of us seemed unclear on how to tie a proper pioneering square lash, as well as the steps to build the Kitchen Table. This should not be the case as we are already Year 3s and should be extremely familiar with the steps for a standard structure. Moreover, we lacked a sense of urgency while working on the structure, which caused us to 过时 by 7 minutes. In the future, we will familiarise ourselves more with the structure, as well as try to 报时 more and work with a higher sense of urgency.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P3:

I came down to 集合 abuzz with trepidation and excitement. I knew that today's 集合 would be for our Camp D preparation, and I was massively looking forward to it. We soon learned that we would be building Kitchen Shelters in our groups in D-area, and we quickly turned our excitement into resolve to do things well and right. The batch was split into three, and I was made the patrol leader of my group. We were broken off and we dashed to the various locations to get our logistics. This is when we made our first mistake. While enough manpower went to 团部 to collect logistics, we soon fell into disarray and took longer than we intended to get our logistics. Sadly, once we started to lay out the canvas sheet, it started to drizzle and we were forced to move to the General Science Lab to build a Kitchen Table (KT) instead. This is when we made a mistake the second time, with too many of us leaving with 木 and ending up with me and two other Guides, one of whom was feeling a little unwell and could not carry too much. In addition, we were also left with the added responsibility to take more 麻绳 for the increased number of lashes in Kitchen Table, and I reluctantly tore myself away from my two batchmates, leaving behind the water bottles and the remaining helmets in a box. After that, we split into two groups and built two KTs, which took us much longer than we should have. Then, we had batch corner where we reflected on our goals and what we had done today. Overall, I feel that we could have done better in terms of our communication and consideration. We could have 照顾好人照顾好东西 too. However, all in all, I had a great and enriching time during that day’s 集合.

Reflection from a Year 3 in P6:

During the 集合 on 1st March, the Year 1s and 2s had gone for their total defence badge leaving only the Year 3s behind. As a batch, we built 2 Kitchen Tables (KT) since we were split into two groups. From this 集合, since it was just the Year 3s, we were able to see how our standards were as a batch especially since Patrol Leader Training Camp (PLTC) is coming up soon. The standard timing for a KT is 50 minutes but we took 57 minutes. I think that we should have worked faster and communicated with each other more efficiently. Another problem is that we did not 照顾好人，照顾好东西. The Year 4s kapped the table boards and none of us realised, without the table boards we wouldn’t be able to complete our KT. We should have been more responsible and more aware of what is going on around us. All in all, building the KT with my batchmates was an eye-opener and it made me realise that we still had a lot to improve on.

Hope that the Year 3s are more prepared for PLTC after today's session, and have learnt something new from the experience!

Published by:

Chin Yan Tong

55届 Secretary