Bronze Expedition, D of E

[ViennaDreams]

My daughter is doing this later this month and I'm just worried she and her companions haven't been adequately prepped.
Is it normal to do a practice walk? She has no real experience of map reading and when I asked her just now, she said all they've done really is decide on a route. A friend mentioned her daughter did a practice walk so I wondered what the norm is. It's 6 hours of walking a day so plenty of scope to get lost!

DD1 (in yr11) was supposed to do her Bronze practice and then Bronze assessed in the May of yr9 (2020). On the school practice day in yr9 when they were supposed to have a go at putting up tents etc, there was torrential rain and thunderstorms, so they just watched the external company's staff put up tents in the sports hall!

Due to Covid, the company skipped the practice and they did a 2-night expedition in the July of yr10 which counted as both Bronze assessed and Silver practice - so their very first trip (and very first time putting up tents!) was assessed. They then did a 2-night expedition in October of yr11 which was Silver assessed. DD1 loved every minute of both expeditions!

On a related topic, does anyone have any good tips for the sort of organisations that welcome under 16s as volunteers? My 15 year old son and friend are looking for opportunities that preferably involve interacting with people (adults or kids) rather than practical stuff like clearing up etc. - their age and restrictions on the time they can be available due to school and on people accepting volunteers post-covid mean that it seems quite challenging to find interesting volunteering opportunities. What kind of things are your kids doing?

Library volunteering popular here as are charity shops.

Ds's bronze practice consisted of going down the local country park for a couple of hours, having lunch then heading back. Seems like that was enough practice as they all coped with the actual thing ok, even though it was pouring with rain both days and all night, they took a couple of wrong turns but found their way back. ds came back looking like a smurf as his new long sleeved blue t-shirt dyed his body 🤣

We live on the edge of a national park, with lots of walking options starting from the village. There has been a non-stop stream of bronze DofE groups all week. They generally have adults starting them off and kind of 'trailing' them / hanging out on the same routes & spotting them every so often. The kids look in a mix of states from sprinting through to limping when they get back :-)

I know of a practice expedition where the child took no food. My biggest piece of advice is to put everything in 3/4 bin bags, waterproof bags are not waterproof even with covers and you will get wet clothes and sleeping bags.

Scouts welcome over 14s to do their volunteering - I would think it was worth asking at BB, GB, Guides, etc.
Many sports clubs that have younger teams - football, rugby I am aware of particularly, but I'm sure most sports clubs would welcome willing volunteers.

DD did her bronze last July. It was a miracle that it went ahead as so many things were being cancelled because of Covid. There was no practice beforehand. The school lent them tents, rucksacks, sleeping mats and cooking equipment. We didn’t need to pay anything. She is not sporty or particularly fit but managed the walking fine. She wore boots which she had been wearing for months so no blisters.

DD did her volunteering at a local Rainbows group. Might be worth looking at something similar?

My DS volunteered at the local park run. They ask for 13 weeks I think. It was very easy to organise and they are well used to the scheme as they have a steady stream of DofE volunteers coming through all the time.

DD2 is doing hers through Army Cadets. £23 for Bronze. All the volunteering, skills, etc., is done through the normal cadet programme.

I know this is an old thread, but I volunteer with a local school to assist on their D of E Bronze practice and assessed expeditions. I have no special skills, but have done this for the last 10 years and love it.
The school does practice 2 days & the assessed 3 weeks later.

They work on map reading and route planning in advance.

The practice then takes place on Thursday & Friday as this encourages kids to get involved ,& also helps in getting staff

On the Thursday, they have a half day of workshops - putting tents up & taking them down, countryside code, 1st aid & cooking.
For the remainder of the day they have a 3hour guided walk with no bags.

On the Friday, they are then given a route to walk which they do with bags and with staff at checkpoints to keep them on track.

They then do the assessed 3 weeks laterat a different location.

It works well for the most part. In the last 3 years, we have had an average of 70 students each year.

Equipment can be hired for any number of items at £30. If anyone has genuine financial difficulties, the school can waive the fees or funds can be claimed from the D of E hardship fund.

We aren't perfect, but we try our best.