Kingsdown Duke of Edinburgh

Please pay attention to when your year group is due on site, if there are any issues please email pbryant@kingsdownschool.co.uk

	Welcome and eDofE, Bags and Tents	Maps and Compass	First Aid, Nutrition, CC and trangia
9:00 – 10:00	Year 9 (1) Main Hall	Year 9 (3) A block left side	Year 9 (2) A block left side
10:00 – 11:00	Year 9 (3) Main Hall	Year 9 (2) A block left side	Year 9 (1) A block left side
11:00 – 12:00	Year 9 (2) Main Hall	Year 9 (1) A block left side	Year 9 (3) A block left side
Change over of year groups
12:00 – 1:00	Year 10 (1) Old Gym	Year 10 (3) A block right side	Year 10 (2) A block right side
1:00 – 2:00	Year 10 (3) Old Gym	Year 10 (2) A block right side	Year 10 (1) A block right side
2:00 – 3:00	Year 10 (2) Old Gym	Year 10 (1) A block right side	Year 10 (3) A block right side
Change over of year groups
3:00 – 4:00	Year 11 New gym	Year 11 New Gym	Year 11 New Gym

• Saturday 22^nd May and Sunday 23^rd May – training walks and practice expedition
  • All students.
  • Parental drop off 9am on Saturday at Barbury Castle car park (SN4 0QH), collect 4pm
  • Parental drop off 9am Sunday at Burbage Scout Hut (SN8 3AN) collect 3pm

• Friday 18^th June and Saturday 19^th June – Bronze qualifying expedition.
  • Students to bring equipment to school where it will be stored safely
  • Students leave school Friday at 1:30pm, return Saturday at 5pm

• Friday 9^th, Saturday 10^th and Sunday 11^th July – Silver qualifying expedition
  • Students to bring equipment to school where it will be stored safely
  • Students leave school Friday at 1:30pm, return Sunday at 5pm

Please note that attendance at events in May is mandatory, and the qualifying expedition is also mandatory for the level your child is partaking in.

All participants are requested to take a lateral flow test in school prior to the qualifying expedition leaving site. Further information about the Covid safe protocols we will be following will be sent out closer to the date of the expeditions when Government guidance has been updated.

A brilliant turnout for the information evening for future DofE-ers, for bronze, silver and potential gold!!

Don’t forget, any questions you have can be emailed:

Pbryant@kingsdownschool.co.uk

Kridley@kingsdownschool.co.uk

Dofe@kingsdownschool.co.uk

Last Saturday we took our 22 year 9 students off for their assessed expedition. All students met us at school and most had learnt a lesson or two since their practice and decided to pack much lighter!!

We arrived at our campsite and set all groups off on their day 1 walk. Once again Lost Girls lived up to their names, but managed to reach the campsite before the every other group. Next back to camp were the Bushtucker girls and bringing up the back were Cool Kids and Mandem. All were in very good spirits that night so after cooking their meals they decided to play some rounders, football and frisbee. We shared the campsite with another school and all of our students did Kingsdown School extremely proud throughout.

The next morning Lost Girls were first to pack up their tents whilst Mandem were slightly lagging…. perhaps due to the chatting that went on during the early hours…? All were then sent off for their second day of walking. Each of the groups did much better on their navigation skills during day 2 and all managed to get through all three checkpoints without getting too lost.

At the end of day 2 Miss Bryant congratulated all 22 students on passing their assessed expedition. Please don’t forget to put all of your evidence online ASAP. Miss Bryant is coming into assembly this week to present to you the silver DofE so if you’re interested please grab a letter.

Well done everyone!

One group decided to keep Miss Bryant up most of the night chatting, which leaves a grumpy Miss Bryant and very tired students.

Apart from that all has gone well. All students have left camp for their second day of expedition. All teachers are at their check points for the day and Mrs Ridley has made some new friends, chatting to the cows.

We will keep you updated on the weather but it’s perfect walking weather at the moment, cloudy and 14 degrees.

All groups are now back to camp, pitching their tents and making their evening meal.

There have been some very questionable map reading skills today. Lost girls managed to get back to camp first of all…. but missed half of their route. Next to arrive back at camp was Bushtucker girls who managed to go through all of their check points. Quotes of the day from Mia include “we’ve had the greatest outdoors day ever” and “those vampire flies are evil”.

After that there was a close battle between Cool Kids 🙂 and Mandem to race back to camp. Quote of the day from Josh “Shannon started shouting at me and it was scary”.

All are now in very good spirits, having had their food and now relaxing for a couple of hours.

Wanted: have you seen any Kingsdown students walking around?

All students have been given their Bronze DofE T-shirt’s and all are in high spirits. Setting all students off on their routes now.

Last weekend our 17 year 10 students completed their real silver expedition which consisted of 3 days walking and 2 nights camping. This was on one of the hottest weekends of the year and so all students were briefed before on the safety measures we’d put in place for them.

Students met us at school on the Friday afternoon, all ready with extra water and sun cream. From there we took the students over to Wilcot for our expedition, all 3 groups were very strong throughout. However 2 groups were getting tired in the evening so it took a walk out by Mrs Ridley, Miss Bryant and Miss Maller to sort them out and get back to camp in time before it got dark. That evening all was quite by 9pm.

Students were up bright and early the next morning ready to go out on their 2nd day of walking. Students left nice and early to ensure that they were not still walking when it came to the hottest part of the day. All made it through the check points and no one looked like a lobster by the end of it. Students got back to camp early afternoon where a shelter was put up and each had an ice cream to cool them down. That evening again was a very quiet one where all students were in bed by 9pm.

On the final day of their expedition, students were again up nice and early and ready to go and absolutely whizzed through the whole of the course.

All 17 of our students completed the 3 day silver DofE expedition and all did so with so much determination and resilience. They have done Kingsdown extremely proud and should be so proud of how much and how fare they have come. Well done to each and every one of them.

Don’t forget to upload all of your evidence ASAP!

All students have now left camp and heading towards their first check point. Currently cloudy, breezy and 16 degrees here.

Happy campers!!

Students have had their breakfast and are now packing up their tents. We are constantly reassessing the weather and will keep you updated on our decision.