To think D of E is a massive swindle

Have you already paid and now dc has changed their mind?
in which case they need to be paying you back the money!

The idea of DofE is great but I can see why my parents wouldn't let me do it! It's not cheap. I had to buy a musical instrument for my dd, then pay for lessons to learn it, that has cost me in excess of £300! It's also a major hassle to organise volunteering and ferrying them about to whatever sport they take up - again, joining a club costs money! I don't mind as it's an amazing opportunity and we're lucky that, although generally pretty skint, we're not on benefits and can afford for her to do it. Sadly I can imagine a lot of children don't take it up because of the cost.
It's also a major faff filling all the online stuff in and chasing the music tutor, volunteering bloke and sports club leader to sign them off! I do hope she does her Silver next year as I'll be more prepared!

Well exactly.

There was no disability - it was the first question I asked!

I was told it was because the kids basically wanted something to put on their uni statements.

Absolutely ridiculous!

I did mine years ago with cadets. Didn't really cost anything. We could loan nearly everything but ended up buying waterproofs and rucksack as we used them regularly with other trips.

Gosh, when I was young (circa 2000) the county youth group ran it and it was free!

And bin-bag liners and pot-noodles were both very much on the kit list!

It was a great introduction to meal planning, I will never forget going to the supermarket with my friends, aged 14, to buy food for our Bronze expedition, and emerging with some cold cooked salmon, coleslaw and a baguette, amongst other delights! We took it with us too, and it taught us to opt for boil in the bag rice and cuppa soup by the time we did our Silver!

Im sure part of the Bronze is meal planning a 'nutritious meal'. Its only one night, so they should be bringing ingredients to make said meal between them. Our lot made a basic pasta with bacon and tomato sauce, and then doubled up the bacon with pancakes and maple syrup the next morning.

Think ours cost £150 for bronze, but included lessons every Friday, and first aid training as the 'skill' in Year 1. Silver £250, and gold has been £350.

We did the practice run in the school grounds, and then they went to Ashdown Forest for the real one.

Silver they started taking those prepared ready meals - practice in Ashdown Forest, real event in the New Forest.

My son is doing gold next week. Practice was 3 nights up snowdon in April, one wild camping, and this real one will be 4 nights in the lake district, with 3 nights wild camping. A year of volunteering, 9 months learning a new skill, and 6 months physical activity. Plus a 5 day residential to organise which doesnt need to be mad expensive.

Its a wonderful experience and my boy has thoroughly enjoyed it. Kit doesnt need to be pricey - lots can be borrowed or bought cheaply on ebay/vinted. And resold to next years cohort. Decent walking boots are a must though, and socks with liners.

If you want a cheaper option, look to National Citizen Service - simialr scheme but only £50, and includes a residential https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/national-citizen-service

Mine were allowed to take pot noodles!

A rucksack liner is about £3 on ebay. But rubble sacks are fine, so if your DDs group are happy to put in 50p each, you can buy a roll of those for them to divvy up.

Our school provided tents and camping stoves only, the £250 covered the training and supervision by an external company, who were absolutely brilliant to be fair (my daughter is autistic and really panicked and they were great with her).

Ask around friends, family, neighbours for other equipment - rucksack, sleeping bag, plates etc. You can buy walking boots relatively cheaply from Decathlon but we did invest in a waterproof pair from Black's and the DofE discount came in handy. Her feet were the driest part of her when the rains came down on the practice walk! Check ebay or Vinted for a waterproof jacket.

Food wise, our group clubbed together and planned lunches and dinners - quick cook pasta and a sauce. Pretty certain planning your food is a requirement of the expedition. Although my daughter didn't each much more than flapjacks and sweets!

Experience tells me that not advising students what food to take and sometimes being quite insistent means they bring all kinds of unsuitable food. For example thinking that a pot noodle is a meal and then wondering why they have no energy the next day.

Our school (private) charged £40, and we could borrow most of the items if we didn't have them.

Nuts they are dictating food - but its more than a night in a field.

Bin bags and (inevitably raw) noodles here. Was still £ as outside provider but I can't imagine they can force you to use e.g. bag liners and fancy meal packets. What is wrong with a black bin liner? At least you can use it afterwards as an actual bin bag?

Haven’t read the whole thread, but it seems really expensive and not really ‘in the spirit’. Most dc seem to do the meal planning as a group & share out carrying the food/stove/tent etc. Loads of organisations do DofE tho, so maybe see if you can find a different group for her and save the £££?

If I read a personal statement saying 'I was going to do DoE but it was too expensive. So me and four mates camped in a field belonging to the friend of my friends aunt for a week' I'd be impressed. But, I've not been in that position for quite a few years.

At the end of the day, can you push yourself to be resilient, learn something, help others; there's a few ways to do that.

Some schools farm it out and make it inaccessible. And as for bin bags, they come in a wide range of qualities.

Our school has stopped offering Bronze as it's difficult enough to staff Silver and Gold. External providers do charge a lot!

In both private and state sectors, teachers' willingness to volunteer time for such things is being really challenged by all sort of factors.

And people go on about how our schools should be more like Singapore and China where the situation is even worse.

Ours is costing £140 for silver hike, kids meal plan and share food and we use rubble sacks.

@jgw1 that’s depressing true - the whole school system is set up that something is only important if you get an exam grade out of it.
Shame. Schools could be so much more than what they are.

Or army cadets. DS did for free.

Might be worth asking friends for equipment/ raiding Facebook market place or similar. Amazing how often I see camping equipment etc on there with limited usage!! Good 🤞

The skills you mention should indeed form part of any decent education, but since they can't be measured by exams, schools are not weighed on the basis of them so they get neglected.

I took a studnet on expedition who used an electric wheelchair, his group had a different but no less valuable experience than the other groups who did the expedition at that time. DofE as an organisation has lots of support and advice for making the Awards accessible.

@MandyMotherOfBrian it wasn’t the Duke of Edinburgh’s idea. Someone else came up with it, he only got put his name to it. Even he admitted it was fuck all to do with him.

My GS is doing his gold, his school will lend equipment if you don't have it so we haven't spent much. Obviously we expect to pay something for several weekends off on practices for the expedition plus the expedition itself and he needed walking boots but we got them reduced as they had faded in the shop window. Think it has cost £350 all in with the exception of his residential. We chose not to do a free volunteering one but paid for an activity one that he really enjoyed.

Maybe suggest asking the school to set up a scheme where people can donate suitable equipment for kids who don't have their own. GSs school does it for skiing trips as well so parents don't have to buy things they can't afford.

I don't count the cost of food for the trip as I'd be feeding him anyway. We don't have to have the wayfarer meals but they do need stuff that has a high calorific value, easy to carry and will keep without refrigeration as they are away for 5 days on the gold expedition. Oh and easy to prepare. We've used Lidl breakfast bars and their cheese pasta sachets that just need hot water added, all very cheap, plus chorizo from the supermarket deli which he loves served with couscous. All cheap, keep well and super easy.

Dd1 did it through the Guide movement about 5 yrs ago. Meal planning was part of it, no special sachets to buy. I think quick cook pasta and pepperoni was involved.

They did recommend certain rucksacs but could lend them if needed. The rucksac has been used again. As have the walking boots

😬 I felt annoyed that DDs DofE was £35. I'll stop moaning 😂
Luckily we had most things, she's robbed a stove and a tent off my brother.
She's taking sandwiches for day one lunch, pasta and sauce for tea and for day 2 she's got chocolate brioche buns and cereal bars and some sort of sandwich for lunch (and probably lots of snacks).

She's had a great time volunteering, but I don't know if she will do Silver.