DofE Web News: July - December 2011

29 July

21 September 2011 - Next DofE Leaders meeting

The next DofE Leaders meeting is at Clarendon House, Winchester, 630pm onwards - home of the County DofE office!

An opportunity for DofE Leaders to network, speak with the DofE team and learn of new updates etc.

Spring/Summer HCC DofE Newsletter

A collection of recent DofE stories and information from Hampshire. 887kb

7 July

Updated Training Course Leaflet

There are now some venues for the First Aid courses (already receiving bookings)

Please be aware that there is now a deadline booking date for the Expedition Trainers Course, bookings received after this date are not guaranteed to be considered for a place.

There are also some changes in dates for Intro to DofE and Safeguarding courses.

Summer 2011 Training Course Leaflet 624kb

HCC Open Silver team need another MIAS cycling instructor.

We are running some Open Silver DofE Cycling Expeditions this summer and are in the need of an additional cycling instructor for their practice expedition.

You would be working alongside a DofE silver group who are doing their cycling expedition on road.

The dates for the expeditions are 29-31 July in South Downs (practice).

If you have a cycling qualification (either on road or off road) and would like to help out supervising these young people please let me know if can make any of the expedition dates. If you have been on a DofE Expedition Trainer course that would be a bonus but not essential!

Thanks - if you have any further queries about this please let me know chris.golby@hants.gov.uk

Outdoor activities Gold Residential, 12-14 August, New Forest.

Avon Tyrrell Gold Residential Microsoft Word 686kb

Guernsey Gold Residential

We’ll have a mix of Guernsey and Jersey participants, but it would be great if anyone from the UK would be interested... as it’s quite easy to get a ferry over (or fly over) and it’s a great experience!

Lihou is accessed over a tidal causeway and the causeway opens for us to get across then shuts for the six nights we’re on the Island so we’ll be the only ones on the Island and totally isolated from the mainland!

There’ll be a chance to take part in activities such as coasteering, abseiling and climbing, swimming and archery as well as getting involved in some community projects on the Island.

Info sheet 1mb

Plea for a Silver participant to fill a place

Eastleigh Wells Place ODC:

"Unfortunately one of our participants has decided to quit dofe for reasons I cannot really go in to. He was due to do his practice and assessment with us in August. However he was in a team of 4 for his practice meaning it cannot go ahead. Therefore I am offering a space for a silver participant on our silver exped to Exmoor 12-15th Aug (walking 13-15th) and if required a space on the assessment 22nd-25th (walking 23-25th).

Also the participants parents have asked if there are any expeditions going on in the county he could join in on. He needs to do a practice and assessment."

simonjeffs@btinternet.com

Hampshire County Council's Walking Group Leader course

21-25 October 2011 is the next WGL course organised by the Outdoor Education team. It will bring you closer to becoming a Gold DofE Trainer (G2), who are always in demand!

More info on why you should do the course

More info on the National qualification

eDofE: Assessors can now submit evidence directly online!

http://dofe.org/assessor/

By using the link above and following the instructions Assessors for all sectionas can submit their assessor reports.

They will need to make sure they have the participants eDofE ID number in order to do so.

The evidence is then fastracked to the relevant Leader as an alert, and once approved, will appear in the participants corresponding section.

16 August

Plea for Gold Expedition Places

Bay House School have a Gold Exped participant who has completed his training and practice venture in the Lake District. Due to a last minute problem he is unable to do his assessed venture with us. Does anyone have a space for a gold participant. If so, it would probably be best if he is contacted directly as I will be away supervising an expedition again. His name is Sam White and ne can be contacted on sam@zamnet.co.uk

Horndean ODC need a Gold Assessed Expedition space for 1 young woman - very competant 19 year old who has transport. She needs to get it done before the end of August as she will be going to the States for 6 months at the end of August. Please contact charlotte.kilshaw@hants.gov.uk

Upgrade Course

The next Upgrade course is 24th September 2011. This is order to Upgrade from Bronze Assistant to Bronze Trainer OR Bronze Trainer to Silver Trainer. It will either be in the New Forest or South Downs and a number of hours will be spent navigating around the area with a County DofE staff member.

This is also an opportunity to use this as a refresher/taster for those booked on the Expedition Supervisor Course (Burgate) this Autumn.

eDofE Hints & tips

With eDofE's upgrade in May and the ironing out of bugs and errors on-going (although much progress has been made!) I want to offer some FAQs.

The programme planners for sections must be approved and completed, which kicks off that section. in order for participants to continue with uploading evidence, exped training etc.
Please be aware that Expedition Assessors still do need confirmation of the participants training and at least one successful practice in order to assess. This can be done by e.g. providing the Keeping Track books; printing the planners from eDofE; a letter of confirmation for the DofE Leader/Coordinator.
Assessors can only successfully use www.dofe.org/assessor (whereby reports can be input straight into the participants' eDofE accounts via Leader approval) if the participants in question have opended and begun using their accounts. If they havn't logged in - then evidence cannot be submitted to the account.
The 'Directly approve [section]' button enables Leaders to approve a section without the participant needing to submit first. Please be cautious to only select this when the minimum amount of evidence (participant comments & assessor comments) and training programme etc have been uploaded for that section.

Skills section - Life Skills activity - free training resources

http://www.pfeg.org is a website that can provide useful resources for those putting on 'Life Skills' sessions.

20 October

eDofE Completions update

All completions prior to October 2011 have been looked at and either completed or queried (Leaders/Coordinators will have been notified). Please ensure that when any queries have been resolved to notify the office to review the submission. Otherwise, please recall those awards that have been sent back for queries until they have been resolved.

eDofE Mapping

Many of you will have discovered, noticed or played with the Mapping software on eDofE. Guides for this are available from the following site:

http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/activities-sections/expedition/notification-forms/

Please note: The HCC DofE office is unable to download the software required for eDofE Mapping, so please be patient if you forward us any queries.

Autumn Newsletter

The Hampshire County Council DofE Autumn Newsletter 2mb is now available!

Please make sure you give it a flick through, there are some great stories (including those written by young people) and News for Leaders.

7 October

Note:

we are currently in the process of confirming future dates for our courses. The next edition of the Training Course Leaflet will be published once the bulk of these are set in stone!

HCC DofE First Aid courses 2011-2012

There are the following two subsidised courses coming up run through the County DofE office, they are taught with DofE Expeditions in mind:

ITC Outoor First Aid 1day

For Bronze & Silver Trainers

15th October 2011, Testwood Lakes, Totton. - places still left!!!

ITC Outdoor First Aid 2day

For Silver Trainers working in wild Country and Gold Trainers

29-30th October 2011, QE Country Park, Horndean - places still left!!!

Please view the Training Course Leaflet 624kb and use the booking form to apply.

HCC Walking Group Leader (WGL) Training Course

This is the next step for any of you Silver Trainers out there! A requirement to becoming a Gold trainer is to have WGL or ML. Our next course is 21-25 October 2011 organised by the Outdoor Education team. For £200 it includes free transport from Winchester, full-board catering and small-group tuition.

More info on why you should do the course

More info on the National qualification

For more information please contact: claire.bishop@hants.gov.uk / 01962 876214

Gold Trainers needed

Peter Symonds College DofE Centre are hoping that there are Gold Trainers out there willing to help with the following:

Gold in the New Forest

Fri 14 - Sun 16 Oct

Any combinination of help gratefully received. A day, or day and a night.

Please let me know if you are available - helenlittlejohn2@yahoo.co.uk

Place for a Silver Participant on an Assessed Exped needed!

I have received a request from the 1st Chandler's Ford Boys' Brigade DofE:

Does anyone have space on a Silver expedition please for one of our lads who missed his group's Silver final? He has completed all his training and a successful practice expedition. He is aware he would need to participate in expedition planning.

If you can help please contact Sarah Brown who would be grateful to hear from you: chandlersforddofe@googlemail.com

First Aid Training for your participants Exped section F.O.C!

The Hampshire DofE Youth Forum are offering the opportunity to come to your Centre and help teach your participants the First Aid part of their Expedition training.

Please view the attached leaflet 430kb for more info and to apply!

Hampshire Open Gold Expeditions

The Hampshire Open Gold Expedition dates and info can be found on the Hampshire DofE Youth Forum website

If you know of any participants who will be interested in the programme, then please direct them the website or Chris Golby - chris.golby@hants.gov.uk

Open Silver Expeditions

Following this years successful walking and cycling expedtions, we are holding Information Evenings about next years programme. This is for young people who need to complete the expedition section of their DofE but can't in their own DofE centre. You would need to be 15 years or older….

Please see the attached poster Microsoft Word 225kb to advertise in your own centre

11th October 1700 - Ringwood School

12th October - 1830 DofE office, Clarendon House, Winchester

20th October - 1830 Basingstoke College of Technology

Please contact chris.golby@hants.gov.uk or fiona.m.smith@hants.gov.uk for more details

Fleet Open DofE Centre

This recently reopened DofE Centre is now available to DofE Participants in the Fleet/Farnborough area

Please attend the Open Evening for more information or contact Chris Golby direct chris.golby@hants.gov.uk

Wednesday 19 October 7.30pm, Youth centre, Court Moor School, Fleet

Please see and share the attached poster Microsoft Word 217kb

Note: The Centre is currently looking for regular DofE Leaders/Trainers to assist!

Yateley School plea - Silver Trainer/Assessor

Silver expedition trainer or assessor needed to help Yateley School on Silver assessment expedition in North Downs

21-23rd October…

Please contact Caroline Uttley if you can help elliscar2000@yahoo.co.uk

eDofE Hint

When Assessor Evidence is submitted by the assessor through the following website www.dofe.org/assessor it does not come up in the Leader Alerts. There is a separate area in your lefthand menu called 'Assessor Evidence' (Under 'Manage Participants') where you can approve this submitted evidence.

Hampshire Community Challenge Fund 2011

Hampshire County Council is seeking applications to a one-off Community Challenge Fund offering small grants of up to £2500 for projects in rural communities within the county that improve the quality of life. Some match-funding is required, which can include a proportion of in-kind support.

Projects must either: Support sustainable rural communities through housing, rural broadband, access to services, supporting volunteering etc.; Provide effective rural transport; Support farming, food projects or access to the countryside; Develop economic prosperity; Relate to climate change issues, for example through renewable energy. All money must be claimed by 31 March 2012.

Details are available via Hampshire County Council or Linzi Gow, Adult Services, on 01962 847265. There is an application form.

> Closing date: Applications accepted at any time until the money runs out, which is likely to be in the autumn of 2011 (but check).

Gold Volunteering Opportunity - Underage Sales

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/underagesales/underagesales-volunteers.htm

9 November

Winter Edition - Training Course Leaflet

The latest edition of the Training course leaflet is now published. There are a number of new training dates that have been added, book soon!!!

Winter Edition HCC DofE Training Course Leaflet 626kb

For East Hants Centres in particular:

The next Intro to DofE course is 22nd November 2011 at Oaklands Rc School, Waterlooville - please book asap!

Reminder:

For those who have yet to provide Safeguarding evidence/attended HCC Safeguarding training, the next course is 5th December 2011.