Gah! Flippin' DofE expedition!

[Horsemad]

Ds is doing his DofE Bronze practice exped this weekend. School gave out a kit list ages ago and said they could provide rucksacks; decided to use school rucksack as I don't anticipate him continuing this on past form and didn't want to spend out if no need to...

Asked last week at parent's evening about rucksack - 'yes, we have 50 rucksacks and 47 pupils so there are enough rucksacks for everyone.'

Ds goes to school today and gets told at the DofE meeting there are no rucksacks left!

So I now have to make a 50 mile round trip tomorrow on my day off to our nearest town to get one

Grrr!

[dexter73]

That is crap. Can't you order one online?

[Idontknowhowtohelpher]

Could you borrow one from a friend?

[BBQJuly]

YANBU. Someone from the school should be doing the 50-mile round trip.

[TinkerSailerSoldierSpy]

I'm actually confused as to how they have feasibly nnot got enough? Surely even if every child borrowed one (which i doubt happened) they should stil have 3 spare?

[Horsemad]

Need to have it here Thurs latest and can't get to town if delivery goes wrong. Have asked around but none of our friends have done DofE :(

The teacher told him she wouldn't be able to get to town to purchase more before the w/e - well it's a good job I'm off tomorrow isn't it, or he'd have been unable to go

[MrsHelsBels74]

Whereabouts are you? Could lend one if you're anywhere near Brighton?

[Horsemad]

MrsHelsBels miles away from you but thank you anyway :)

[Horsemad]

Tinker God knows! I'll be asking the same question myself when I collect him on Saturday!

[grammar]

I'm so totally with you. I think the whole thing is for middle class parents of middle class children who can afford the time to take the child for it's 3 months'volunteering', the investment, potentially, (if they do no outside activity) in doing three months of 'activity', in our case bicycle riding and volunteering in charity shop. (we live in the country), then the bloody kit bag! He's hated the whole thing, has done the introductory overnight, needs to do the training wekend, then has the actual thing. I am full of admiration for parents and their children who o on do silver or gold, but feel in the camp of 'disgruntled parent with unwilling child) nb. the chiild decided to do it as it would look on cv, but no pressure from parents who have not a sporting gene between them!

I would point out that there should have been enough ruckacks and ask if your child will therefre be excluded if he can't come up with all the kit... and it is a formidable list.....
Let me know if you anyone has had a better experience.

[GateGipsy]

That's bloody poor planning on the school's behalf! I remember when we did DofE, the handing out of hiking boots and rucksacks would take place on a set day and no-one would miss that slot - the last person to arrive would find they'd got the horrid old rucksack made of canvas and a wooden frame, and the really old, old fashioned boots that you'd have to spend days rubbing with dubbin to make sure they were waterproof. And they'd all smell. I swear the school kept them on purpose, just to make sure that kids didn't 'forget' to come and get their gear. I did one expedition - never made that mistake again.

If you're going to somewhere like Blacks or Millets, check to see if they've any vouchers. Go to www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/hot click on the vouchers at the top of the screen, then do a search on the shop name using the Vouchers box on the right hand side.

I got another 35% off a pair of hiking boots in the Blacks sale doing this!

[Fleurdebleurgh]

Do you have a local Scout Group?

We have leant items to DofE students before.

[Horsemad]

grammar he wanted to do it, no influence from us and I don't really mind the costs involved but am so fed up that I now have to make an unneccesary journey to the nearest town with reasonable shops to purchase somehting school said they could provide!

I seriously doubt he'll do silver and gold so thought I'd use school equipment where possible and save on the expense.
I'll be asking the other parents what they think when I see them at the weekend :)

[Horsemad]

Gate it is poor planning! I'll be making my feelings known to the staff! will check out vouchers, thanks for the tip :)

Fleur Never thought of asking the Scout group thank you :)

[thebody]

We why does your school provide rucksacks???

Had to buy ours for 2 older Dcs and they did silver and gold as well!!! U need special ones for gold so get saving now!!

[thebody]

Grammar, the country's biggest doer of D of E is south bromsgrove high school in fact, a Comp in a rough area btw.

My Dcs both did hold there, most kids do up to silver with no help.

Middle class indeed please I feel insulted get your facts right..

[confusedpixie]

I was about to say I had one you could use for the weekend but like MrsHelsBels I'm also in Brighton!

grammar: what a load of rubbish RE for middle class kids. There were several DofE groups in the area I grew up in and I doubt any of us lot could be classed as 'middle class'! Most of us were from families on long term benefits. The difference was that our local youth services knew this and tried to ensure that between the three most local groups and the groups in the surrounding areas we had everything we needed for each group to go away at separate times with very little to spend. Our local scout groups and scout centres were good at sharing kit too.


I'm still keen to do my gold but haven't been able to find a group that takes on over 20's in any of the places I've lived over the past four years :(

[DazR]

I seem to remember when mine did D of E that they got a discount in Milletts when they showed their D of E cards

[jamdonut]

My daughter did bronze Dof E last year and doing silver this year. She and her friends are in no way "middle class", and the school is definitely not in a middle class area. Our School also provides rucksacks for everyone.

[EssieW]

You get a discount in Cotswolds.

You could try insisting with school that they provide one. I work with a school on DofE and we would make the effort if someone would have to drop out.

Having said that, I've still use the rucksack I used for DofE - over 17 years later so it can be good investment in general

[dexter73]

My dd used the school rucksack for bronze last year but as she is doing silver this year we bought her a rucksack from Decathlon for about £50. We figured she will use it for other things when she is older/at uni/festivals/holidays etc. Lots of non-MC kids at my dd's school doing DofE too!

[bigbluebus]

My DS is doing his practise DofE expedition in a few weeks time. School are not supplying any of the equipment. He has bought his own rucksack out of Christmas money that he had from grandparents (which I held onto in anticipation of this). He was given a stove by a family friend, and we have a tent which DS & DH used to use to go camping in - before they bought a huge new one!!! Fortunately DS has the same size feet as DH and is able to use a spare pair of DH's walking boots but I would agree that unless you are particularly good at begging or borrowing - in our area at least, DofE is the domain of the middle classes, as no one else could afford it!!!!

OP your DS should have a discount card for Cotswold if you have a store near you - but to be honest we haven't bought much from them as some of their stuff is expensive/good quality and I am not convinced my DS will carry on after Bronze either, so have bought off internet or from outlet village.

[GrahamTribe]

I just thank god that my DC's school doesn't do this thing. It sounds like utter madness to me and a real pain in the butt too!

[goinggetstough]

horsemad what a pain about the back pack and poor organisation on the part of the school.

graham what a shame that you are pleased your school doesn't do it and that it sounds like a pain in the butt. My DC benefitted from doing their D of E including their gold and learnt many skills.

As other posters have suggested some MC wand wasn't waved and they were all awarded their bronze, silver and gold awards. All participants have to stick at for a considerable amount of time, for Gold this is 12 months to 18 months depending on previous levels.

I was speaking to an employer/ mentor last week and he still said that if he is looking at application forms he still values the D of E award. He doesn't mind whether people have trekked in Snowdonia or gone to Peru for their expedition, learnt to be grade 8 or grade 1 on the bagpipes but what he takes from it is that the participants have stamina, stickability and are able to start and finish things. Skills that he felt not all teenagers possessed these days.

horsemad hope you get the rucksack and that your DS has a great time.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Wondering why the OPs DS drew the short straw - you'd have thought somewhere among the people who did get loaned a rucksack there would have been someone who'd have been able to borrow one from elsewhere.

[vj32]

Everyone just did it at my school to put it on their UCAS form. That was how it was sold to us. I hate camping, and the expeditions involve walking in a big circle. While I understand there is something about developing skills etc, I will never walk around Dartmoor in a big circle carrying a tent in my life, so most of the skills are irrelevant. You can do voluntary work etc without it being through DofE, and you can prove you can stick at things without potentially having to be airlifted off a national park in the middle of winter. Another very expensive trip at my school. (And I told Prince Andrew this. Ooops.)