First Response Training (Saturday all day)

Late last year the criteria for 'First Response' changed all courses are now 6 hours long and e-learning module must be complete.  (There is no refresher or full course anymore!)  The session can be delivered both in-person or virtually using an online platform. The training is six hours long and can be delivered in one day or split into three 2-hour sessions. Anyone attending a virtual training will also need to meet a trainer in-person to complete some practical elements.

Girlguding encourages all of our volunteers to complete first aid training to ensure that our members are kept as safe as possible when they are in our care.  1st Response is Girlguiding's own first aid course and MUST be renewed every 3 years.  This training course is especially useful for commissioners, leaders, young leaders, unit helpers and unit occasional helpers. Rangers can do the course as part of their personal development.

The following members are required to attend the training:

• Volunteers completing the Leadership qualification (without a valid equivalent first aid qualification)
• Commissioners
• One person at every unit meeting must have a valid first aid qualification. Find out more about requirements for named first aiders in your unit.

The session will train you to provide first aid to members in emergencies - in or outside of your unit meeting place. The course was created specifically for members of Girlguiding and The Scout Association.

The e-learning (see below link) can be completed before or after the full training course, and must be completed in order to be recognised as a first aider in Girlguiding.

making-guiding-happen/learning-and-development/first-aid-training/1st-response-training/

There is no set time limit between completing your virtual 1st Response training and doing your practical skills check with a trainer. However we would encourage you to do these within three months of each other, if location and individual circumstances allow.

During the current Covid-19 restrictions, we understand that this recommendation will not always be possible. We want to reassure members that the virtual part of the course will not expire. Attending in-person skills checks with trainers can be done when the current restrictions ease and when individuals feel comfortable to run and attend these sessions.

Your 1st Response training will only be valid once all elements have been completed, including attending any in-person skills check and completing the e-learning. The 'completed on' date in GO should be the date you attended the main six hour training session or the date you attended the third of the three 2-hour sessions. Your 1st Response training will expire three years from this date, not from the date you complete the practical skills session.

The link below will take you to the Frequently Asked Questions around 1st response.  If it doesn’t answer your question please email firstresponse@girlguidingcornwall.org.uk

Check if your external first aid qualification is suitable for Girlguiding

If you hold a valid external first aid qualification you may already have the training you need to provide first aid support in guiding.

For your first aid qualification to be considered equivalent, it should:

• Be valid
• Have involved a training that was at least six hours long
• Included training for both adult and child CPR
• Covered all other topics in 1st Response training

If you have completed an external course that does not include child or adult CPR, then you should join part of a 1st Response which covers this. Alternatively, speak with the training team to see how we can help.

You might have completed the main training virtually with Girlguiding but the practical bit externally and again this is okay as long as it included training for both adult and child CPR.

Process for checking equivalency

Check if your external qualification first aid qualification is suitable for Girlguiding by working through the 1st Response syllabus and checking that everything has been covered in your external training. A conversation with our county first response trainer, Jean Whetham is required this is a conversation based on trust, and you should share your certificates. Your record will then be updated on GO.

We’ve updated our guidelines on extensions for 1st Response.

If your qualification expired after 16 March 2020 it will remain valid until 31 October2020, or six months from the original expiry date, whichever is latest - up until 31 March 2021 when all retraining must have been completed.  This will be reviewed again in March 2021

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance on first aid training extensions says that guidance people need to be able to 'demonstrate that they have made every effort to arrange requalification training as soon as possible and can explain in detail why they have not been able to do so' for an extension. So you need to book onto a course as soon as you can.