Welcome and Celebration | 2 mins
Play celebratory music as Ambassadors arrive bertha.short.gy/WS1-Opening. 

Gather everyone into the circle.

Say: “Firstly, congratulations and welcome to the Bertha Earth Ambassador Programme! You're here because you were bold enough to apply for this opportunity, and/or someone believed you would make a brilliant Ambassador.”

“Over this year, you'll explore what it means to be a Bertha Earth Ambassador. You'll discover how to care for yourself, each other and our environment, and how to take positive action for our planet. But today is really about one thing: welcoming you and beginning this journey together.”

Invite everyone to give themselves and each other a huge round of applause.

Facilitator note: as some neurodiverse people don’t like clapping, we can maybe do the clicking of fingers, or find other ways to celebrate - check in with the group first.

Meet the Facilitation Team | 2 mins

Facilitators introduce themselves.

Keep this warm and brief rather than giving lots of background.

Let them know that the Facilitation Team will be accompanying them throughout their Ambassador journey.

The Ambassador Network | 1 min

Show the slide illustrating the wider Ambassador network and ask them to identify their school on the map. 

Say: Today, you join a growing community of 600 young people across London, Kent and the South Coast who are starting this journey together.”

“So let’s start where every great journey begins: by celebrating that you’re here. Give yourselves a huge round of applause!” (See previous note)

Check-In | 2 mins

“Before jumping into getting to know each other and learning more about what being a Bertha Earth Ambassador is, let’s start with a check-in. This is something we will do at the beginning of every workshop.” 

“Our check-ins are a chance to pause, see how we're feeling, and get ready for our time together.”

Ask the Ambassadors to stand up and imagine one side of the room is 0 and the opposite side is 10.

• 0 = I'm not feeling good today. I'd rather be under a duvet.

• 5 = I'm feeling okay, somewhere in the middle.

• 10 = I'm full of energy and feeling amazing.

Invite everyone to move to the spot that best matches how they're feeling today.

Once everyone has chosen, invite the Ambassadors to look around the room and notice where people are standing.

Say: “Everyone arrives differently, and that's okay. There are no right or wrong answers. Whatever number you're showing today is welcome.”

If you have time, invite one or two Ambassadors to share why they chose their number.

BE Here Now | 4-5 mins

Guide the Ambassadors through the BE Here Now exercise to help them arrive, settle, and focus. 

Explain that they will begin most sessions with a simple exercise from the Ambassadors’ BE Here Now Toolkit, a self-care handbook with exercises that are designed to help them notice the present moment, regulate their emotions and prepare for learning.

Where possible, introduce a variety of practices throughout the programme. At the end of their Ambassador journey, the Ambassadors will receive the handbook to take away with them, so encourage them to notice which practices work particularly well for them and feel easy to use and practise independently.

Designated Photographer | 1 min

Explain to the Ambassadors that photographs will be captured throughout the programme and may be used in the Celebration montage at the end of the year.

Decide who will be responsible for taking photographs during today’s session. If a facilitator is unable to do this, invite a young person to take on the role.

Where possible, rotate the role so different Ambassadors have the opportunity to contribute. Always be mindful of young people who do not want to be photographed and respect their wishes.

Facilitator Note: Where appropriate, try to capture the young people doing, creating, collaborating, and connecting, rather than only posed photographs.

Overview | 1 min

Give the Ambassadors a short overview of what they will be exploring today.

What brought you here? | 5 mins

Say: “I’d really like to learn why each of us chose to join the Bertha Earth Ambassador Programme. Some of you might be here because you care about the environment. Some of you may love being creative, enjoy storytelling, working with others or spending time outdoors. Some of you may not yet know what to expect, and that’s completely okay! Wherever you're starting from, you are welcome here!”

Explain: “We're going to do a quick 'Vote with Your Feet' activity to see what brought us all here.”

“This side of the room is 10, meaning ‘strongly agree’. The opposite side is 1, meaning ‘strongly disagree’. The space in between represents everything in the middle, so if you're a 5, stand halfway across the room.”

“I'll read out a series of statements. After each one, move to the spot that best matches how you feel.”

“Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. We're simply curious to learn more about one another and where we're all starting from.”

Statements:

I applied to the Bertha Earth Ambassador Programme because:

• I love storytelling 

• I care about the planet

• I like the idea of hanging out with my friends 

• I want to meet/make new friends

• I want to spend more time outdoors

• Because I want to take action to make a difference

• I am not sure why I said, Yes!

Note: Do not unpack this; you won’t have time.

Say: “As you can see, our reasons for saying “yes” are mixed/varied. Whatever your reason for being here, we are really excited you said “yes” and are looking forward to the year ahead.  Let’s now think about what being a Bertha Earth Ambassador actually means…”

Present the slide.

Say: “At Bertha Earth, we believe an Ambassador is someone who represents, promotes, and/or speaks up for something they care about.”

Getting to Know Your Team Game | 5 mins 

See energiser and team activities in the Icebreaker Booklet.

Ambassador Team Agreement | 15 mins

Explain: “Being an Ambassador isn’t just about having great individual qualities. It’s also about how we work with others. Ambassadors need to listen, communicate, include everyone, and recognise that everyone brings something important.”

Note: If someone chose something similar to ‘works well with others’ as their quality in the opening game, you can instead draw from this suggestion to kick off this activity.

Say: “Now that you have been appointed as Bertha Earth Ambassadors, your first mission starts now!”

“Your mission is to work together as a team to create a series of shapes using only your bodies. You must do this without speaking, and everyone needs to be included.”

Go through each challenge one at a time, resetting between each one. Each challenge should get progressively harder:

1. A triangle

2. A star

3. A tree

Gather everyone back in a circle and reflect on the activity:

Ask as many of these questions as you have time to ask:

• “What helped us succeed?”

• “What made the challenge difficult?”

• “Did everyone get a chance to contribute?”

• “What happened when people listened to each other?”

• “How did we include everyone?”

• “What could we have done better as a team?”

• “Could any one person have completed every challenge alone? If not, “Why not?”

Capture responses visibly on a large sheet of A1 paper. This will become the basis of their team agreement.

Say: “Using this as inspiration, together we need to come up with a list of roughly 10 things we think are important when it comes to working together as a team. Think about that activity and what we have shared so far. What would you say, as a team, is important?”

Encourage: Look at the responses and list; if there are more than 10 things, see how you might group them. It doesn’t exactly have to be 10. We just don’t want a seriously long list. See if there is anything the Ambassadors would like to add to that list.

Note: If you end up with lots of ideas (ideally no more than 20), group them and hold a vote, either by their feet or by asking each Ambassador to write a tick beside the 10 ideas that they think really matter. 

Explain: "Through our first mission, we've already started discovering the kind of Ambassadors we want to be and how we want to work together. These ideas will become our Ambassador Agreement, something we'll return to throughout the year to help us stay connected, support one another, and work together as a team."

Facilitator Follow-up

After the session, create a clear and legible copy of the group's Ambassador Agreement to display during future workshops.

Embed the Learning | 4 mins (optional if you have time)

Ask:

• What is one thing you learned about being an Ambassador today?

• What is one quality you think will help our group work well together this year?

• What are you looking forward to in the programme?

The 3-2-1 Reflection is split into two parts. If you have time, complete both. If not, choose Part 1 or Part 2, based on what you feel will best serve the needs of your group.

Part 1: Quiet Reflection | 4 mins

Invite everyone to find a comfortable position, hand out the storybooks, explain how they will be using them across the programme. 

 Ask them to open their Storybooks.

Explain: “Reflection helps us notice what we've experienced, what we've learned, what we've enjoyed and how we're growing. It also helps us think about what we might want to take forward or do differently next time. It is important to reflect if we don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.”

Explain: “I'd like us to spend the next 3–4 minutes quietly thinking about the following questions. Feel free to write or draw your answers in your Storybook. There are no right or wrong answers.”

SLIDE: Display the three questions on the screen.

ENJOYED

What did you enjoy most about this session?

TAKE AWAY

What are you taking from today that you will practise or bring into your everyday life?

CELEBRATE

Celebrate yourself. What are you celebrating and why?

Explain why celebrating ourselves is important and why we don’t do it enough.

Part 2: Sharing Together | 4 mins

If you have already completed Part 1:

Invite a few Ambassadors to share one or two of their reflections.

If you are going straight to Part 2:

Display the slide with the three reflection questions.

Remind the Ambassadors why reflection is important and give them a quiet moment to think about their answers.

Then invite a few Ambassadors to share one or two of their reflections.

Examples of questions you may want to ask:

• Did anything come up that surprised you?

• What is one small action you are going to take away this week?

Encourage listening without judgement and celebrate each contribution.

If time, invite the Ambassadors to record any final reflections in their Storybooks before moving into the Invitation and Checkout.