Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Bronze level Information evening for parents Wednesday 13th March 2019

When did we start? HHS started to run the award scheme in the early eighties. Mr Stanbridge, Mr Chappelow, and Miss Dayton were among the first organisers. The current team include Mr Sutton, Mrs James, Mrs Schlesinger, Mrs Wicks, Mrs Gilmore and Ms Littlejohn, assisted by Norman Dayton.

Sections of the Award Volunteering * (3 months) Physical * (3 months) Skills * (3 months) *one of these has to be 6 months. Expedition (2 days). The main purpose of this evening is to enlighten you as to what this involves.

Why do an expedition? To quote from the Little book of DofE, “Working as a team with your mates, away from adults, your planning, initiative, spirit of adventure, leadership and teamworking skills will be put to the test. It can be an amazingly memorable and fun experience!”

What does it involve? Each group plans a twenty-five km (16 miles) walking trek, spread over two days with an overnight camp. They have to be self-sufficient, which means they carry all their own food and water, cooking and camping equipment with them. They have to navigate from checkpoint to checkpoint, using footpaths, tracks and bridleways, staying off roads as much as possible. (No catching buses or phoning taxis or lifts from Mum and definitely no phoning for pizza!)

These are bronze-type hills

What equipment will they need? You will have seen the kit list already. The main items are: Spare clothes (including hats and gloves) – it is an English spring! Food: No tins! Pasta/supernoodles, boil in the bag, ex-army rations, pitta bread, dried fruit, hot (and cold) chocolate. Flip-flops for the campsite.

How will they cook? We provide gas-fuelled trangias, which they will be shown how to use. We will have covered basic first aid; the most common problems on DofE (apart from blisters) are burns and scalds from cooking!

Mmm….breakfast!

Food suggestions. Suggested Menu. Day One:   Day One: Lunch: Pitta bread; wraps; (not sandwiches),Primula cheese; cheese strings; dairylea; dried fruit; malt loaf; nutrigrain bars (or equivalent). Dinner: Noodles (NOT pot noodles); pasta & sauce; frankfurters to cut up and add to the noodles; dehydrated meals, boil-in-the-bag.

Day Two: Breakfast: Porridge (with water); frankfurters; noodles. HOT DRINK is a must. Lunch: As yesterday.   Plus:  Puddings: Custard; hot crunch puddings; fruit cake; malt loaf; dried fruit; chocolate.  Snacks: Biscuits (shortbread); raw jelly; chocolate; dried fruit; mint cake; sweets.  Drinks: Hot chocolate (water based); tea or coffee with dried milk; soup.

Supervision On the first day there are two manned checkpoints along the route. Once all the students have been dropped off at the start we go to the first checkpoint and wait for the first group. Sometimes we will shadow a group or walk back along the route to offer encouragement or advice. On the second day there are unmanned checkpoints.

Checkpoint card.

Emergencies. We lend each walking group a mobile phone. They have two numbers they can contact us on should an emergency arise. Should you need to contact us my number is 07737 020390

Start/Finish times The practice expeditions start on a Friday, so you should aim to be at school by 8:30 am, by the DofE cupboard (Heath Lane car park) We should return to school on Saturday at approximately 4pm. Rucksacks can be collected at school on the Wednesday and Thursday before the expedition at the end of school. Tents will be issued on the Friday morning.

Dates The Practice expeditions are from: Friday 26th – Saturday 27th April and Friday 3rd - Saturday 4th May. The signing in sheet indicates which expedition your child is on. The Qualifying expeditions will be from: Sunday 23rd – Monday 24th June and Sunday 30th June – Monday 1st July.

Silver Expedition (Year 11) If you survive the Bronze expeditions and would like to continue, the Silver practice expedition will take place at the beginning of the October half-term in the Peak District. We go for two training days and a three-day expedition; the estimated cost will be £200. The Qualifying expedition will be in the Lake District in the third week of July 2020 and will be run along similar lines. See the school website for more details and definite dates.

Gold Expedition (Year 12) The Gold practice expedition will be a four-day trek through the Brecon Beacons (where the SAS train) at the start of the Easter holiday. The Gold Qualifying expedition will be in Snowdonia during the third week of July 2021. In both cases there will be two extra acclimatisation/training days.

EDOFE (record keeping) The expedition section is the main section the school organise. The other three sections are the responsibility of the student to organise (as part of the ethos of the award). However, to complete the award and make progress they have to complete the paperwork……..