We’re getting to the exciting part of our Bronze DofE – the outdoor expedition! A few of the DofE team attended a 2-day Outdoor First Aid course at Peat Rigg, tackling different emergency scenarios right in the middle of Storm Ciara (we’re hoping for better weather conditions on our actual hikes!) You’ll be pleased to know that we all passed.
So far Crew Finch have completed their skills section and are well on the way to completing their volunteering section (reading with Y7 students.)
Crew have already chosen their hiking groups – they’ll be walking in two groups of six rather than all together – and the nice part of this for me was hearing them say that they wanted to be in groups with those members of Crew who they wouldn’t usually spend time with so that they could have the chance to bond with them a little bit.
We want to make sure that students are fully prepared for the qualifying expedition element, so our Friday afternoon sessions are now fully dedicated to preparing for the outdoor expedition and will cover such things as:
- Basic first aid (including CPR)
- Menu planning
- Stove safety/cooking
- Packing rucksacks
- Route planning
- Codes of conduct
Key dates:
- 14th Feb – Medical consent forms to be returned to me please!
- 3rd April – Kit check (we’ll send a list home with students)
- 23rd April – Practice hike (day only)
- 9th-10th July – Qualifying expedition (overnight)
I’ll be handing over the DofE blogging to Crew so that they can keep you updated on their planning and progress.