Friday afternoon sessions provide us with the perfect opportunity to enrich students' understanding of the DofE Expedition, with various topics that have to be covered. This is done through a 10 week programme where key expedition skills are taught, which can then be applied to the DofE Awards. Although these sessions themselves are not part of the DofE Award, they do help us to satisfy the training requirements for the expedition section as well as providing students opportunities to discuss with DofE staff any questions they may have.

DofE Friday Activities - Scheme of Work / Session Plan

All students will cover the following content in their sessions. Please note, it may be necessary to alter the order of these sessions in order to ensure content is covered at appropriate times/ due to weather & daylight hours etc.. All students will be notified by a Firefly task about the activity being covered that week in advance of the session.

1. Introduction to safe use of Trangia camping stoves & discussion on what food to bring while on expedition - students can practice using the stoves by making hot chocolate.
2. Cooking a meal on Trangias - students have the chance to cook a meal as they will on DofE expedition and practice skills learned the week before.
3. Tents - how to use, carry and pitch a tent with a focus on the school's Vango Halo 300 tents/
4. Navigational skills - here a short walk will be used to help students practice and understand skills covered. 
5. Route planning - all information delivered in a classroom. Theory around understanding how to use a map, ways to sensibly plot a route, and risks encountered when walking a route. 
6. Longer walk - used to practice the route they have planned. 
7. Cambridge park orienteering - used to further practice navigational skills.
8. Countryside code & First Aid Scenarios - understanding this is essential when on expedition in order to remain safe and respectful of the environment around you.
9. eDofE Training Session - used to help students understand the Award's platform. This session also provides students an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
10. Rucksacks - how to best pack your rucksack when on expedition, best bags to use, sensible bag weight guides.

The practice camp takes place in the Summer term and involves walking from College after 4pm on a Friday, camping (including cooking a meal), route planning and walking back to College arriving at around lunchtime on the Saturday.

Timetable for DofE Friday Afternoon Sessions

Below is a table containing information surrounding the DofE Friday Activities, in particular how long each student can expect to partake in the activity, the group size, location of the activity, and the staff leading the activity with them 

Highlighted below is the timetable for when each group student can expect to be doing the DofE Friday Activities session. Students can check their group by logging into SOCS and clicking 'My Activities'.

Students complete a double rotation of sessions for DofE Friday Activities block, this is to ensure that the full scheme of work is covered. 

• Rotation 1 & 2 dates - Friday 12th September - Friday 28th November
• Rotation 3 & 4 dates - Friday 5th December - Friday 13th March
• Rotation 5 & 6 dates - Friday 20th March - Friday 19th June