How do we get started?

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Welcome to Explore Pippins – we are so happy that you have joined us and know that your daughter will have a lot of fun and learn some great things!

Explore Pippins is designed to be a girl-led programme, but we encourage parents to supervise and enjoy sharing the experience with your daughter. Some activities require adult involvement for safety and developmental reasons, others your Pippin will be able to achieve independently.

We recommend using the Google Chrome browser to view the Explore Pippins website. If you are having problems playing an activity, we suggest you check which internet browser you are using and switch to Google Chrome.

Pippin Leader

Once your daughter has been enrolled in a digital unit, you will get an email from your daughter’s Pippin Leader (to the account you used to register) with their contact email address in it. Your daughter’s Pippin Leader is one of our wonderful volunteers who has been trained in GirlGuiding NZ practices as well as the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts Educational Method. They will be able to help guide your girl towards badge completion and help them on their guiding journey.

You are welcome to send specific questions about your daughter’s programme through to your Pippin Leader. Please forward any more general questions to the Explore Pippins staff team, explore@ggnz.org.nz

Your daughter’s Pippin leader will communicate with her via your registered email once a week. We suggest reading the weekly emails together so that you can share in your daughter’s achievements.

Parent Portal

You will also be sent a link to register on our Parent Portal which is an important site where you can track your daughter badge progress, check on event invitations and stay up-to-date with GirlGuiding updates. You should receive a link to the Parent Portal within 24 hours of registering for Explore Pippins. If you haven’t please check your spam folder (and mark us as a safe sender!) or contact us on explore@ggnz.org.nz. If you’re having trouble setting up your Parent Portal login, please see these instructions.

If any of your contact details change please make sure that they are update in the Parent Portal.

Does my daughter need a uniform?

No, you don’t need to purchase a uniform although many of our girls like to wear one while they are doing their Pippin activities. Your daughter will be invited to optional Guiding events. Each event is different but some events she may be required to wear a Pippins tee-shirt, eg. ANZAC Day Service. Uniforms and other guiding items can be purchased via our E-Shop.

Badge and Activity Icons

On the left hand side of the activity image is a coloured strip and icon to represent the badge the activity is part of; it is a good idea for you and your daughter to become familiar with these. The different badge icons and colours are:

Below are the icons used on the left hand side of the activity image.

               Needs parent help

         Travel is involved

         Uses sharps like scissors or a knife

         Uses a printed template

         Heating or cooking is involved

 

What about internet safety?

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The internet has become an everyday part of life, and children are growing up with it, using it to learn and play more than any generation before them has done. It’s a wonderful resource but we need to make sure that we are safe online; the online safety of your Pippin is of vital importance to us.

Our site is:

  • Secure, with SSL encryption
  • Specifically designed for Pippins
  • Monitored by GirlGuiding NZ

We have made sure that your Pippin will be safe on our site – within the activities there are no external links for her to click on and no advertising pop-ups.

All of our Leaders have been interviewed, police vetted and offered training for dealing with children. These helpful tips will help ensure a safe environment for your Pippin;

  1. Stay on the Explore Pippins website; do not go to any other website

We recommend that your Pippin uses the Explore Pippins programme in a family space rather than by herself in her room. This will allow you to monitor what she’s doing.

It’s important to emphasise that your Pippin should stay on the Explore Pippins website rather than clicking on anything else, such as apps that may be on the desktop of the device.

  1. Get help if you get stuck or are unsure about anything

It’s always better for a child to get help rather than trying to fix something themselves. If they don’t know what to do, they need to be able to get an adult to help them.

Your Pippin has a random username and password for this programme. We recommend that you change the password to something memorable but complex enough that someone else cannot guess it; a phrase can work well if you add numbers and capital letters to it.

Netsafe, New Zealand’s online safety organisation, has developed good resources around content risks. They have a Safety Button available for free download that can be clicked on if a child sees something distressing online. Clicking on the button causes the screen to be covered with an underwater scene and a message encouraging the child to get an adult.

These links contain useful information for parents about helping children with the internet:

  • Your Child and the Online World: http://hectorsworld.netsafe.org.nz/parents/
  • Netsafe tips for parents: https://www.netsafe.org.nz/online-safety-for-parents/
  • Thinkuknow (UK website): https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/jessie-and-friends/

Subscriptions and Pippin Packs

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Explore Pippins operates on a 90-day subscription. Every 90 days the subscription will be renewed, or you will be offered to move up to the next programme level (Brownies). You can also cancel your subscription at any time by logging into the Profile section of the website and cancelling.

The programme has been designed to be built upon and help grow your daughter’s leadership skills, curiosity and introduce her to new STEAM focused activities. Each new subscription will have a selection of new activities for your daughter to complete and the opportunity to earn more badges; her current progress will also remain. Each new subscription also has a Pippin pack attached to it which will be sent out to your daughter along with any badges that she has earnt. Please make sure that your postal details are kept up to date on the Parent Portal.

Renewing a cancelled subscription

If you decide to re-join after you have cancelled a subscription and it’s been more than 90 days since you last paid a subscription, log in to your Explore website account. You will see a screen asking for credit card details. Filling out this screen will reactivate your account and sign you up for a new 90-day period.

It’s been four weeks and I haven’t received a Pippin Pack

We do our best to get the Pippin Packs out to you as soon as we can but sometimes delays happen. If you  do not receive your Pippin Pack within 4 weeks of subscribing/re-subscribing please send an email to explore@ggnz.org.nz with your details including:

  • your daughter’s name
  • your address
  • your daughter’s membership number (if known)
  • date of payment.

Badges

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Badges are used to track your daughter’s progress through the Pippin programme and can be proudly displayed on the sash that is provided in her Welcome Pippin Pack.

How can my daughter earn a badge?

Each badge requires girls to complete a set amount of activities from a variety of subject areas. Your daughter’s Pippin Leader will help lead her towards completing badges.

The requirements for earning each badge and your daughter’s progress toward earning them can be seen by logging into the Parent Portal  here. On the dark blue menu, click on the Badges option. The badges your daughter has started are partly coloured in. The ones she has earned are fully coloured in.

Clicking on a badge will show a list of the activities your daughter could do to finish earning this badge.

When will my daughter’s badges arrive?

Badges are sent out as part of each Pippin Pack. The Pippin Packs are sent out shortly after each subscription renewal.

What do I do with the badges?

There will be a blue sash in your daughter’s Welcome Pippin Pack; this is worn over her right shoulder and pinned together at the bottom to make it the right size for her. It is a great idea for your daughter to wear her sash when she is doing Pippin activities to make her time even more special.

All badges the girl earns can be proudly sewn on to her Pippin sash as a record of all of the achievements she has made. Typically, badges are laid out in this order:

Once your daughter has finished a section and moves up to the next section she will receive a new sash as part of her Welcome Pack.

Why didn’t we receive a badge?

If you haven’t received a badge, first, please check if your daughter has earned the badge. You can check this by logging into the Parent Portal here.

If she has earned the badge, your latest Pippin Pack may be running late. Badges are posted as part of the Pippins Pack provided on your subscription renewal. Please allow up to 4 weeks from the date of your subscription renewal for delivery.

If the badges your daughter has earned were not included in your latest Pippin Pack, please contact us at explore@ggnz.org.nz with your daughter’s name and start date and we will look into this for you.

I’ve received the wrong badge(s); what do I do?

While we do our best to get your badges out to you, we are humans and do occasionally make a mistake. If you receive the wrong badges in your Pippin Pack please send an email to explore@ggnz.org.nz including which badge(s) you have received and which badge(s) you were expecting.

We will arrange for the correct badge(s) to be sent to you with a return postage bag for you to return the incorrect badge(s).

Still have a question?

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