Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Ten Tors

The outdoor education programme is well-established at St James and is now in its eighth year. It is a programme of day walks and expeditions based on Dartmoor and the South West coast path, and is designed to help students develop a range of skills and attributes that will help them to be happy, confident and successful in the future. All students will be able to take part in either the Ten Tors training programme or Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or both; however, ultimately places will be limited to either 6 or 12 students (depending on whether we are allocated 1 or 2 teams) for the Ten Tors event. Students can take part in both programmes if they wish. A little more detail about each element is shown below:

The Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme

The DofE is an internationally recognised award scheme, and is rated very highly by employers for all the qualities and attributes it helps to develop. In year 10 we offer the Bronze award. Students have to complete four sections – volunteering, physical, skills and expeditions.

Students will need to identify what they would like to do for each of the volunteering, physical and skill sections, and each activity needs to be done for a minimum of three months (and one for six months) for an average of an hour per week. Students will also need to participate in a practice and qualifying expedition to complete the DofE award.  Plenty of help and advice will be on offer in school as to what activities students can choose. There will be a regular meeting on a Thursday after school for students to log onto their eDofE accounts and to discuss with a DofE leader their progress on the sections. The DofE will be open to all students.

More information can be found at www.dofe.org

Ten Tors

The Ten Tors is a well established nationally renowned event, and has been running for over fifty years. It is an Army organised event, where teams have to complete a 35, 45 or 55 mile route across Dartmoor over two days, taking in ten tors along the way. The teams have to camp overnight on the moor, and carry all their equipment and food with them.

The Ten Tors is a selective team event, and is only available to teams of 6. We usually have two 35 mile teams from year 10.

The idea is that students will sign up for the DofE or Ten Tors (or both) and following a selection weekend in March we will select individuals who are able to take part in the Ten Tors event which takes place at the beginning of May.

More information can be found at:  http://www.tentors.org.uk/

Training programme:

As both challenges are demanding, there is a lot of training that needs to be done, and students who sign up will need to be dedicated and prepared to give up a significant amount of time.

Parent’s meeting and equipment:

There is usually a parent’s meeting during the summer term which offers parents the opportunity to ask questions and for us to give a bit more detailed information about the programme and the equipment required. Good discounts for equipment are available at some local outdoor shops, and while we may be able to provide some of the necessary equipment, some will need to be bought.  In particular, we recommend that all participants have their own hiking boots.