DofE Web News: January - June 2012
3 January - Happy New Year!
Participant Fees
A note from the South-East regional DofE office:
"Despite the fundraising pressures that our Charity faces, rising inflation and increasing costs on all fronts, the DofE has decided to provide support to DofE groups and participants by freezing Participation Place fees at the 2011 price for the coming 2012/13 financial year. We hope this will be helpful to you in encouraging the ever-growing number of young people who want to undertake activities to do so."
Therefore the current National participant fees will stand until further notice:
Bronze - £14
Silver - £14
Gold - £20
Gold Residentials 2012 - Please forward to your Gold participants!
Arts Award: 13 - 17 February 2012 (Deadline 16 January)
This residential is based in the heart of the New Forest. Throughout the course of the week you will complete all the components of your Bronze Arts Award. You will create a portfolio of work in any arts medium you choose, you will visit go to an art event and record your views, think about who inspires you and share your art skills with others. The cost for the residential is £300 (£280 for Hampshire County Council registered DofE participants). The cost of the residential will be £280. This includes accommodation, food, art resources, time spent with an arts award adviser, registration and moderation with Arts Award and a visit to an arts event.
For further details and an application form please contact: Abby Roch; dofe@hants.gov.uk; Tel: 01962 876323
Earth, Wind & Fire!: 23 - 27 July 2012, Wales (Deadline 1 June)
This residential is based at the Hampshire County Council mountain centre in the Brecon Beacons. Practice yoga and meditation every day; learn about the chakra system; visit standing stones, stone circles and cairns; watch the sunrise and sunset; plan your own creative activities inspired by the great outdoors; participate in preparing and cooking your own food. The cost for the residential is £300 (£280 for Hampshire County Council registered DofE participants). This includes transport to and from Hampshire (or a pick up from Abergavenny) and during the week; accommodation and food and yoga tuition with an IYT qualified yoga teacher.
For further details and an application form
please contact: Abby Roch; dofe@hants.gov.uk; Tel: 01962 876323
Ocean Youth Trust South: Various voyage dates available
DofE for All - REMINDER!
Networking Meeting
6.30pm to 8.30pm, 9 January 2012
Clarendon House, Winchester
An informal networking meeting for those currently working with participants with additional needs.
Please email dofe@hants.gov.uk to let us know you are attending!
Training Course
10am onwards (full day) - 14 January 2012
Clarendon House, Winchester
We are holding a free training session for DofE Leaders who would like to welcome young people with additional needs to their Centre. The aim will focus on giving leaders resources and support to work with all young people regardless of their additional needs.
Please email dofe@hants.gov.uk to book a place
Open Silver Expedition programme
Are you looking to do your Silver DofE Expedition?
Want to do something different and challenging?
The Hampshire Open Silver DofE allows young people from across Hampshire to meet like-minded people and take part in Silver DofE.
It might be that your current DofE group doesn't offer DofE, perhaps you don't belong to a DofE group and would like to or maybe you would like to do a different type of expedition?
We can support you through all the DofE sections but mainly focus on the expedition section and offer opportunities for walking, cycling, canoeing or horse riding expeditions. Full training is offered to all participants.
If you are interested and would like to find out more about this exciting opportunity, then please visit the website.
We are holding a information evening on Tuesday 17th January in Winchester for you to find out more and ask any queries.
Please let us know if you would like to book an expedition place or have any queries.
Hampshire DofE office dofe@hants.gov.uk or phone 01962 846323
Hampshire DofE Forum Conference
This was advertised in the recent Winter Newletter 
2mb The booking form 626kb is now available.
This event is expected to be oversubscribed, so book asap!
Please note: this is to be returned to the Alton address and not to this DofE office.
Volunteering Opportunity - yacht restoration
If you feel you would like to be part of a team restoring the Historical Yacht Lively Lady and then sailing her Around the World, come and join us! We meet on the first Tuesday of the Month at Portchester Community School @ 1930hrs. Its not just the sailing, we learn to work together as a team, building on such skills as teamwork, financial management, planning and organisational skills. and most of all belief in yourself.
For further details see www.aroundandaround.org or email info@aroundandaround.org
Outdoor Education course list
The Spring 2012 courses are now available!
Please book through the learning zone or by contact Claire Bishop
Food Hygiene e-learning course
It is recommended that Centres that are doing Residential and Expedition cooking training should have a Leader with this or a similar qualification to pass on good practice.
Expedition First Aid training for participants
The Hampshire DofE Youth Forum are continuing to offer First Aid sessions for participants to help them with their Expedition sections.
For more info 
424kb
eDofE - Passwords & Usernames
There is a useful guide on the National DofE website for Passwords & Usernames
Please note:
HCC as an Operating Authority create the participant accounts for its Centres, therefore if the participant has not received their login details directly via email, then a list of logins can be requested from this DofE office.
Those with Coordinator access can reset logins for those with Leader access - so this doesn't need to be done by this office
eDofE - Summary of the November 2011 Upgrade
The following new features for Leaders, Coordinators and participants were uploaded:
• Achievement Pack – when an Award is approved a large banner will now appear on the participant’s home screen which will include a button linking directly to the site to enable them to create their Achievement Pack. They will have 90 days to build their pack before the button disappears. If they hover over the button it will tell them how many days they have left to build their pack. Participants will receive a ‘congratulations’ email and message in eDofE which will also explain the process, and reminder emails during the 90 days.
• Picture evidence - Leaders can now edit photos (rotate/crop/rename) on behalf of young people, so if someone has added a picture up-side down you don’t have to crick your neck to see it. The crop options (landscape or portrait) will maintain the right aspect ratios needed for the Achievement pack. We have updated the text to let participants know the minimum number of landscape and portrait pictures they need for each section.
• Gold expedition – we have corrected the Gold qualifying expedition planned hours so it will not accept anything less than 4 hours travelling a day.
• Participant overview – to reduce the size of the lists this screen is now defaulted to hide completed Awards. Therefore young people who have completed their Bronze and Silver and are doing their Gold will not appear on the list 3 times. You can un-tick this so you can see completed Awards if you want to.
• Award approvals – this now has a summary screen called ‘Approvable sections’ which lists any section which has been submitted for approval by a participant to any Leader in the group. Leaders and Coordinators can approve any of these sections directly from this list.
• Assessor evidence - an alert is now sent to the Primary leader and participant to tell them when Assessor evidence is added via website or IPADIO.
• Achieved off line – the sectional colours have been added to the relevant pages on Achieved Off Line to remind people which section they are completing. In order to maintain the integrity of our data it is only possible to use the Achieved Off Line function at Silver and Gold levels if participant has first added their basic information (address etc.).
• Key Performance Indicators – two new graph options have been added to show Awards awaiting approval and Awards approved in the last reporting year (i.e. since the beginning of April). These can appear on the home page by choosing them in ‘My settings’.
8 February
Office Update
Thank you all for your patience over January, we are having more enrolments than ever and eDofE is becoming second nature! The HCC DofE office is still very busy at this time and we will be dealing with queries as soon as we can! Priority is currently with processing completions for the up and coming district presentations.
Please continue to recall highlighted sections of all submitted completions that we have queried with you and notify the participant with how to proceed. We currently have over 80 awards pending with queries in eDofE!
Plea: 2 x Gold Practice places needed!!!
There are two boys at Havant College who will be unable to make their Gold practice expedition due to other College commitments. Can anyone offer places on a practice expedition before the 1st July when they will be joining their teams for the assessed expedition or on an assessed expedition after that date?
Please contact Terry Brinnen terr01@lineone.net or Charley Nelson Charley.Nelson@havant.ac.uk
Plea: Silver Trainers needed!!!
Are you a Silver Trainer? Are you free 21 - 24 April 2012?
Please contact Dan, dep@wincoll.ac.uk, who is looking for Silver Trainers to support his expedition teams in Brecon.
Training Courses
Training Course Leaflet 627kb, 7/2/12 edition
We have added more Intro to DofE and First Aid course dates!
Please note: The Autumn Expedition Trainers course dates are 5-7th October 2012. The venue is TBA...
National DofE Magazine
If you havn't already, can we please urge you to sign up (FREE!) as a DofE Leader!
You might just be missing some vital info!
You will receive:-
the DofE Magazine through the post 4 times a year
the monthly e-newsletter via email
the Cotswold 20% discount card for Leaders
What are you waiting for!?!
South-East Region conference
The South-East region DofE office has organised a 2day conference.
The first day, Friday 2 March 2012, is open to Managers only - so only Operating Authority Staff.
The second day, Saturday 3 March 2012, is open to Leaders as well, please view the flyer to book 384kb
Young Person's Volunteering Fund
Young Person’s Volunteering Fund is the name of SITA Trust's funding programme to support volunteering projects which transform community amenities and green spaces. Projects must be led and delivered by 14-25 year olds. SITA Trust can support projects in England and Wales and can provide up to £10,000 towards agreed project costs
Forestry Commission
Yesterday, Gill Spratt, DofE Manager, met with Jayne Albery, of the Forestry Commission. Over the years we have tried to build a good working relationship between the forestry commission in the New Forest and DofE. I am please to say that Jayne is very pleased with how things are going and is finding the DofE Teams are using the Forest appropriately and respecting their countryside. This is good news for us all and a standard we wish to maintain in the coming season!!
Well done all!
Getting Government to debate Outdoor Centre closures
From the Institute for Outdoor Learning:
One in three Local Authority outdoor education centres are facing closure (some have already closed) which could mean large numbers of young people are denied potentially life-changing experiences, at a time when health, physical activity and contact with nature are all declining. Some children from poorer and disadvantaged groups may not have another opportunity to share a night away from home and visit places they would not otherwise see.
The sad fact is that closure need not happen, in many cases given extra time these centres could become self sufficient. If centres close they may not reopen again.
You can help by signing our petition, set up by the FSC with the support of Association for Heads of Outdoor Education Centres, English Outdoor Council, Institute for Outdoor Learning and National Association of Field Studies Officers. If we reach 100,000 signatures this year the issue will be considered for debate in the House of Commons.
To sign the petition visit http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/26661
To raise awareness of the campaign we have created a short piece of video which you can watch by following this link: http://youtu.be/WPEenciK8uQ
Please pass this email on to any those who may be interested in encouraging a debate on this in the House of Commons
Map Deals & Schemes
DofE has teamed up with Ordnance Survey for an opportunity for you to purchase tailor-made maps!
Dash4it have a February 35% sale on Ordnance Survey maps!
Aqua3 has partnered with Ordnance Survey to supply their own site-centred maps!
6 March
Powerkiting Focus group - Thursday 8 March
We have a range of kites that you can loan and use as a resource to engage young people. The qualification to enable you to do this is about to change and we would like to invite you to discuss this and how you can make use of our large collection of kites.
We will meet at the main reception at Clarendon House, Monarch Way, Winchester, SO22 5PW at 16:15 for the taster session of Kite flying.
If you cannot make it for 16:15 then feel free to join us for the Focus Group starting at 5:30 at Clarendon house, full details are on the poster attached.
Please respond email if you would like to attend as places are limited.
14th March, 6pm onwards - DofE Leaders Meeting!
This twice-yearly event is again at Clarendon House, Winchester SO22 5PW. The date did change, 14th March is now the confirmed date. Themes include:
Expedition Refreshers
Equipment display & goodies via Access Expeditions
eDofE updates / emapping
The DofE team will be around to answer questions or simply have a chat with – we will see you there!
Pleas
Cranbourne School (Basingstoke) looking for Bronze Trainers
They need another Bronze Trainer to help with two day training walks in the Basingstoke area:
Friday 16th March and Friday 11th May
...and a female Bronze trainer to cover the following practice dates:
The first one is Sat 26th-27th May in Tilford.
The second is Sat 16th-17th June in the New Forest.
Please contact chris.golby@hants.gov.uk if you can help.
Testbourne School (Whitchurch) need 2 additional Bronze Trainers
to help with the following dates :
Saturday 22nd April - day training walk in the Basingstoke/Newbury area
5 – 6th May Practice expedition in the New Forest
Please contact chris.golby@hants.gov.uk if you can help.
Old Basing DofE Open Centre - Bronze Assessor requests
Need assessors to assess 4 Bronze expedition teams in the Kingsclere area (near Newbury)
on 7-8th July 2012.
Please contact them direct if you can help oldbasingoac@aol.com
Farnborough Hill School - 2 Bronze Trainers needed
for 24-25th March 2012, Tilford, North Downs area
Please contact chris.golby@hants.gov.uk if you can help.
Romsey School – Bronze Trainers plea
21st - 22nd April, New Forest, Practice exped, 5 Bronze Trainers needed
26 - 27th May, New Forest, Qualifying exped, 4 Bronze Trainers needed
Please email jphillip@romsey.hants.sch.uk if you can help
Outdoor Education – Summer 2012 courses
Outdoor Education have the new dates 12kb for this summer up and running. Please contact claire.bishop@hants.gov.uk or search on CAS to book!
eDofE – update for Phase III
The next eDofE update involves the large upgrade for the Manager level access. Essentially it will bring us in line with the look and format that Leaders and Participants have been enjoying for quite a number of months now. More importantly there will be some functional improvements, which should mean processes at HCC DofE will be a lot easier, logical and therefore quicker. An email will be going to Coordinators and LDC (Local DofE Committee) chairs with further details soon.
The timeline is as follows:
16th March - DEADLINE for transfer requests from the Operating Authority.
Therefore, please let me know asap with any transfer requests, Centre to Centre/ OA to OA.
5pm, 13th April - DEADLINE HCC DofE will be clearing as many award approvals and logging them
DEADLINE Leaders need to clear ALL alerts, otherwise they will be lost in the upgrade
We then lose the use of eDofE......
...Until 19th April - DEADLINE for the eDofE development team to get eDofE back online with Upgrade complete
Summary:
eDofE will be undergoing an Upgrade 13-19 April, during which time eDofE will be unavailable
Leaders must clear ALL alerts by 5pm 13th April, because these are likely to be lost during the upgrade.
Banner Competition
Over Easter a competition will be rolled out by HCC DofE to submit a photo for the website banner. As you can see above, at present we have the letterbox image from one of the many caving trips to Brecon. It's about time we had a more specific DofE image to call our own! More details on the prizes and the specification for successful submission will be coming soon!
25 April
Banner Competition
The competition has begun!!!
We need a DofE banner for our webpages and we want a DofE group to be the creators! A banner is the image that you can see above this news page, it is currently the image of the young people looking through the infamous postbox gap in Brecon, whilst caving.
We need a team of participants (5 max per entry) to provide an image to replace the current banner and to give the site a proper DofE makeover!
Specifications:
It must ‘scream’ DofE and be generic to all sections as much as possible. E.g. we don’t necessarily want be inundated with purely Expedition images!
It must be in JPEG or GIF format
It must be 1024 x 108 pixels in size
Banners cannot be a montage
The visual interest needs to be towards the left/centre of the banner. As you can see – anything to the right will be hidden by the DofE logo!
Entrants from HCC participants only.
Please fee free to look through the Hantsweb pages (www.hants.gov.uk) to see current banners and get some inspiration!!!
The winning banner will be published onto the DofE webpages for the foreseeable future and DofE goodies will be presented to the winning participants!
To enter, please forward your entries via email to Abby at the DofE office. Please include in the email: contact details re the entry, the DofE Centre and the names of the DofE participants involved in the design.
Entries Deadline – 23 July 2012 (end of LA schools summer term).
Basingstoke and Winchester stores
Basingstoke & Winchester HCC DofE stores are already busy with orders! Please ensure that you look after any kit you borrow and return all kit on the arranged date.
Please note: The Basingstoke Store has changed it’s operating hours to Mondays, this will be in place from 30th April.
Info order Forms can be found on the HCC DofE homepage (bottom right!)
Practical Award Leadership
An opportunity to gain a DofE modular training certificate, a leadership experience placement, an activity for a Gold DofE Award section and the opportunity to meet likeminded people on a course worth over £150.
April 2012 to September 2013
Info Poster 802kb
Sign up and info event on 30th April 2012;
Paperwork and final comitment needed by 14th May
Subsidised course worth over £150;
Get, training, CRB, DofE Kit, a mentor and a leadership placement;
Work with young people in Hampshire to achieve their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards whilst working towards your own;
Gain a certificate in DofE Leadership, part of the DofE’s national Modular Training Framework;
Attend an awards ceremony after the year’s commitment;
Get the opportunity for further training and contacts across Hampshire.
Plea for Bronze Trainer – 28 April
A request for a bronze Trainer - 1 day only, meet at IOW ferry, Portsmouth, travel over with group; 9 miles walking then will be returned to ferry same day for return home.
please contact Vicky if you can help! victoria.marson@babcock.co.uk
Gold Participant places needed!
1. Has any group got space for, or need a gold participant looking to complete her expedition section (needs a practice and assessed expedition). If so please email anne.king@ballardschool.co.uk and I will pass it on.
2. We have two boys at Havant College who will be unable to go on their Gold practice expedition because of other college commitments. Could anyone please offer them a place on a Gold expedition? If you can help contact Terry Brinnen or Charley Nelson at:
charley.nelson@havant.ac.uk
terryandjeryl@tiscali.co.uk
Up and Coming DofE Courses
ITC First Aid course
2 June 2012, 0845 – 1700, Romsey Community School
Intro to DofE
21 June 2012, 630-930pm, Basingstoke Area TBA
DofE Safeguarding training
19 June 2012, 630-930pm, Cranbourne School, Basingstoke.
Coordinating a DofE Centre
26 June & 3 July 2012 attendance at both eveings, 630-930pm, Clarendon House, Winchester
Expedition Supervisors/Trainers Course
5-7 October 2012, Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime, venue TBA
Expedition Trainers Upgrade course
27 May 2012, 3hrs, New Forest/South Downs TBA
Expedition Assessors course
11 June & 9 July 2012 attendance at both evenings, 630-930pm, Clarendon House, Winchester
In order to book:
Training Course Leaflet – course booking is the back page
MIDAS trg – free to HCC DofE Leaders
The Outdoor Education, PE and Sport Service are able to offer some further MIDAS minibus driving training courses for DofE Leaders this summer. All DofE leaders who are driving young people in minibuses (regardless of size) should hold a current MIDAS certificate.
DofE Leaders from other Organisations may apply – but priority will be given to HCC DofE Leaders.
Course info 2012 23kb
Booking Form 103kb
Hampshire DofE Youth Forum – Monthly competition
The Youth Forum are now running a new monthly competition for everyone who is involved in DofE! All you need to do is answer the multiple choice question (about DofE) for the chance to win a gift donated by Access Expeditions or a DofE Hoodie.If you're not lucky enough to win this month, don't worry we then enter everyone's name for a yearly prize draw for a bigger and better prize! So, get your enteries in now by vising our website, and answering the question and telling us your name & email!
http://competition.hampshiredofeyouthforum.co.uk/
Residential opportunities
Earth, Wind & Fire!: 23 - 27 July 2012, Wales (Deadline 1 June)
This residential is based at the Hampshire County Council mountain centre in the Brecon Beacons. Practice yoga and meditation every day; learn about the chakra system; visit standing stones, stone circles and cairns; watch the sunrise and sunset; plan your own creative activities inspired by the great outdoors; participate in preparing and cooking your own food. The cost for the residential is £300 (£280 for Hampshire County Council registered DofE participants). This includes transport to and from Hampshire (or a pick up from Abergavenny) and during the week; accommodation and food and yoga tuition with an IYT qualified yoga teacher.
For further details and an application form
please contact: Abby Roch; dofe@hants.gov.uk; Tel: 01962 876323
India Volunteering Adventure
Basti Ram is a not-for-profit UK registered charity (no. 1137644) and Duke of Edinburgh Approved Activity Provider that aims to give poor communities in India the opportunity to learn skills which help them to build their own brighter future. In India we run projects in day nurseries, primary schools, orphanages, with disabled children and with street children. We offer a fully supported residential package, you can find out more about life on our projects by watching our short video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO4zHCQooJ4
***Spring Offer*** book now to receive 10% off of your 4 week residential and 5% off of your 2 week residential!
4 week project fee was £3,499 now £3,149
2 week project fee was £2,499 now £2,374
If participant's would like to apply with a friend they will recieve a further £50 discount from your residential fee (please make a note of this on your application form). Both residentials are fully inclusive and fundraising support and advice is provided throughout. For a more detailed list of inclusions or to discuss our projects, register an interest or request an application form please visit www.bastiram.org email bastiram.katherine@gmail.com or call our UK office on +44 (0) 7515 857 865.
Dragon Boating – National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham.
26 – 30th July
£150, with camping accommodation
Info poster 
2mb
Drinking Water tap location
We have been reliably informed by Peter Robinson (of DofE training team) that there is a drinking water tap at grid ref 247 136 behind a bush northern entrance to Janesmoor Car Park!!!! This may help Exped staff who need to top up water bottles etc…..
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News to come...
News to come...
Hampshire County Council, The Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8UJ
This page was last updated on 30 April 2013. © Copyright Hampshire County Council 2013.