Welcome to the Basildon academy DofE Page

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) is a program that encourages young people to participate in a range of activities designed to develop their personal and interpersonal skills. The program was founded by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1956 and is available to young people in the United Kingdom and many other countries around the world.

The DofE expedition is one of 4 sections to achieve their award: -

1. Expedition: The Bronze Expedition is a key component of the DofE program. Participants must plan and undertake a two-day, one-night outdoor expedition in a group with their peers. This expedition involves navigating a route, camping, and cooking their own meals while carrying all the necessary equipment. It is a challenging and rewarding experience that helps young people develop teamwork, leadership, and outdoor skills.

The Bronze Expedition is an opportunity for participants to apply what they've learned in the other sections of the DofE program, particularly in terms of teamwork and problem-solving. Successful completion of the Bronze Award requires participants to meet the requirements of all four sections, including the successful completion of the expedition.

Overall, the DofE program, including the Bronze Expedition, is designed to help young people develop important life skills, build confidence, and gain a sense of achievement through a series of challenging and rewarding activities.

The duration of a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) Expedition is two days and one night sleeping out. Some general guidelines that are typically followed for the Bronze DofE Expedition:

1. Training weekend: The practice/training is the first part of the Bronze DofE Expedition and is meant to prepare participants for the qualifying expedition. It lasts for two days and one night. During this training, participants learn essential navigation, camping, and teamwork skills.
2. Qualifying Expedition: The qualifying expedition is the assessed part of the Bronze DofE Expedition and is the one that counts toward achieving the award. It lasts for a  two days and one night. Participants are required to plan and execute their route, navigate, camp, and demonstrate the skills they learned during their training, adhering to the 20 conditions of the expedition to get passed.

It's important to note that the Bronze DofE Expedition is designed to be a challenging but achievable adventure for young participants. 

The DofE kit list is available to download off the DofE website and also the Let's Get Out C.I.C website. The kit list has been explained to all our young people taking part, there is also a video on this page running through the kit list which you can watch.

We offer full training for all the requirements of the expedition, including online training, in-school training and the training weekend before participants go on their assessed expedition.

All our training and expedition sessions are run by experienced staff. Full enhanced DBS checks, first aid and years of experience running DofE expeditions.

We are very experienced at running DofE expeditions, and we have an enviable safety record. We hold an AALA license with HSE and have highly experienced staff while on expeditions and training.

All team members are trained for emergencies, and we have protocols in place in the event of an emergency. Participants are taught how to be safe from day 1. Although remotely supervised we know the areas we work in and work to minimise any risk to participants. We have access to all relevant medical and contact information at all times, as well as contacts within the school or organisation.

We bag up participants mobile phones at the beginning of the expedition, they have these to open only in the event of an emergency. They have access to a Let's Get Out company phone, so always have means of communication with the leaders if needed. 

Accommodation on the expedition is tents, they will have 2 or 3 person tents between their teams. There will be no mixing of sexes during the expedition. Leaders will always be close to the participants overnight. Any misbehaviour or mixing of tents will result in removal from the expedition.

The DofE is largely about young people gaining more independence, there will not be any communication during the expedition. Take it as no news is good news.