To think D of E is a massive swindle

Have checked email and cost via girlguiding in our area is £25 registration fee. Email says they kept costs to a minimum and it’s organised by volunteers plus equipment loan.

If you want your kids to do it for free, get them to join Cadets. CCF, Air Cadets etc. All of them seem to do it

However, a friend of mine is an admissions tutor at Durham. He doesn’t care if an applicant has done D of E. So, not sure if it makes any difference to uni. It does make a difference to the kids themselves though

@FiddleMinger - in that case I’d say you have a ‘DC problem’ not a DofE one - not completing the award because they’re ‘not feeling it’ when you have paid money to give them the opportunity is (more than a little) a little pathetic. Sorry.

That's the school's doing not the charity's.

Walking across uneven terrain for 4+ hours per day carrying 10kg+ (probably a lot more if crap at packing) on a pot noodle would be daft, at best.

At gold level, when it's 8+ hours per day for 4 days in wild country, it would be bloody negligent of them not to tell you about proper nutrition.

I suggest writing to your MP asking why the government has so defunded schools and LEAs that what we once took for granted has now become so expensive.

We use rubble bags as ruck sack liners. Ask your friends to borrow or buy their equipment. Remember some people did it last year and have the supplies.

This is the sort of stuff they ate, and flapjack lots of flapjack

NCS is a good and cheaper (I think?) option. One week of camping and outdoor activities, one week staying in a dorm, and 2 weeks of doing volunteering and team activities. I did it 4 years ago and we got to stay in a 5 star hotel instead of a dorm. We also did first aid training with a certification and team competitions. Absolutely loved it and made so many good friends. Although I also know a lot of people have done both DofE and NCS.

We sent our with pot noodles because they are very light weight.

You don’t need to do via School. I know you can do via girlguiding in my area and as far as I know there’s no charge (mine didn’t want to do it)

Some of the money is used to pay for the station they camp at overnight. If they have a Go Outdoors leader they will have a fee for the weekend. I bought a sleeping bag, large light backpack, mat to sleep on, light cooking pan and all other personal equipment eg compass for my eldest child DD then other 2 children used the same equipment and I let my niece borrow it too. My Foster child used it after that so I did get money's worth out of it. My DC all did Silver too so the equipment really was well used. The only thing they had new was a whistle each. Mine all had to actually cook though so took a carton of passata and dry pasta. A couple of salt sachets from a cafe and a pinch of dried herbs in a bit of foil. I can't remember how much I paid for my 3 children as years ago but Foster son had his paid for by SS. Buy a packet of Compreed blister plasters.

I did mine via guides/rangers. The expedition bit was left to us to organise. I’m staggered by how much support is given nowadays.

Typical pot noodle is about 400 calories. One of the DofE expedition conditions, for good reason, is that participants cook a substantial meal each day. One pot noodle does not make a substantial meal.

Surely D of E should be about teamwork and loving the outdoors not sending your mum to spend a fortune in a camping shop?

It is. Your issue isn’t with the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, it’s surely with the school and whatever money grabbing company they’ve decided to team up with. The scheme itself doesn’t require any of those things. You do need camping/hiking gear etc obviously but you absolutely do not need to buy ridiculous packet Wayfayrer meals. Certainly my DDs and their cohort didn’t. I’d tell them to do one. Does anyone really think this was what the late Duke of Edinburgh had in mind when he conceived this scheme? In fact I’d go as far as to say it completely goes against the principles. Surely planning, preparing and cooking food together as a team is an important part of the experience? Not heating up a sachet. I guess people will monetise anything.

In the school I'm in we have kept our Bronze cost to around £100 we have an extremely dedicated teacher who runs it internally and we don't buy anything in, if they left it wouldn't be the case as no one else is willing to help. Other staff members volunteer to help out of their own time with the expedition, our Head wanted this to keep it accessible to all.

Different school and I've just had DD2s letter for Bronze. £400 I'm struggling to justify this cost even with buying in staff to run it.

Guess the school are buying in external providers for the expedition. £250 will go towards paying for qualified and experienced outdoor professionals to train and supervise the young people 24 hrs a day during their training, practice and qualifying expeditions. The usual fee for a freelance outdoor instructor for D of E is £160 per day plus about £30 for each overnight responsibility. Very few schools have staff with the required qualifications to run it ‘in house’. Part of the money will go towards replacing the group kit. There is not enough nutrition in a pot noodle to sustain a person doing a hike. They don’t want them to feel miserable and get cold over night. It is also a condition if D of E that they prepare a substantial meal. Those wayfarer meals are the minimum in this respect.

At least you can afford it OP. I couldn't and therefore DS didn't do it. People were aghast! And I mean aghast that I had failed him so. He's fine. At university. Volunteers in youth work. He's done ok without it!

That seems excessive.

We paid £50 for bronze and £55 for silver.

Fairly sure the nutritional content of expedition meals Vs pot noodles are different.

Are they camping in a field or at a camp site? How are they getting to/from their start and finish points? Is the school buying in expedition trainers? Contribution to tents, stoves, emergency kit, fuel for stoves?

Bin bags are no good as rucksack liners as they rip extremely easily. It's good they've told you that.

Pot noodles would not be accepted on DS's DoE, not even ultra posh ones. DS bought a huge bag of pasta yesterday. He may bring a salt sachet. He's got 2 days of porridge & lunch on 2nd & 3rd day will be cereal bars.

Mine all did via scouts & did all meal planning etc themselves, lots of stuff was provided by scout group & other stuff passed down by families who were done. It was substantially cheaper than our schools offering which was similar to yours & kids got sonmich more out of it than being spoon fed by school group

I didn't think you had to pay to do it? Maybe for the costs of the expedition part. A sturdy binbag was always recommended in scouts and guides as an excellent waterproof rucsac liner. I think it is outrageous to expect children to buy expensive foods. I would ignore that and get cheap noodles and other food that you feel like it's only for 2 or 3 days they can go back to organic vegetables once they are home again. It is seeming to discriminate against people when the whole point and purpose of the award is to challenge people to better themselves and get out into the countryside, not be forced to spend money!

Ours cost similar, but we were able to borrow equipment from school and DC1 ate pasta and sweets!