Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Bronze level Information evening for parents Wednesday 12 th March 2014
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, Mr Phillips, Mr Miller and Mrs Whalley, assisted by Norman Dayton, Alex Hatt and Ian Davies.
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!)
What is the aim? On the Qualifying expedition, each group will have an aim or purpose. They will be expected to make a report or presentation afterwards in order to successfully complete the award. Previous groups have produced studies on topics as diverse as litter in the Chilterns, gates and stiles, interesting flora and fauna, popularity of pubs. We have been entertained by short films including The hunt for the Jabberwocky and The Lord of the Rings
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 meths-fuelled trangias, which they have already used in a training session. They carry the trangias and we supply the fuel. We have covered basic first aid; the most common problems on DofE (apart from blisters) are burns and scalds from cooking!
Suggested Menu. Food suggestions. Day One: Lunch: Primula cheese; cheese strings; dairylea; pitta bread; 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.
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.
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 25 th Saturday 26 th April and Friday 2 nd - Saturday 3 rd May. The signing in sheet will indicate which expedition your child is on. The Qualifying expeditions will be from: Sunday 29 th Monday 30 th June and Sunday 6 th Monday 7 th 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 130. The Qualifying expedition will be in Snowdonia in the third week of July 2015 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 the Lake District during the third week in July 2016. In both cases there will be two extra acclimatisation/training days.