Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions

We currently run Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver expeditions for Sutton Grammar School for Boys. We are an Approved Activity Partner for Bronze and Silver expeditions.

We have been working with Castle View School, Canvey Island, for the last two years to support them while their Award Leader completed her BELA and gained experience and confidence. Now that they are self-sufficient, and with an expanding team of staff, we are looking for up to three new schools to partner with to bring the adventure and fun of the expedition section to more schools.

Ideally, this would be somewhere where there are staff who are keen but not yet qualified, so that over a two to three year period we could help you create a tradition of expeditions at your school which you can then sustain independently.

We won’t turn away a school that needs to delegate their expeditioning to an outside company altogether – but there’s no doubt that your school misses out if teachers are not involved in the programme.  As a former teacher myself, I know Duke of Edinburgh weekends gave me more energy for the day job, not less.

We use the New Forest, Purbeck, Ashdown Forest and Forest of Dean for most of our expeditions, with some practices and training work on the North Downs. Whenever possible, we like to take Bronze participants away for a full weekend rather than a Saturday morning to Sunday evening, and we sometimes use wild campsites during Silver expeditions to add progression and challenge. Typically we choose campsites where participants can enjoy having a campfire on the Friday night. Favourite flourishes include bananas stuffed with chocolate, cooked in the embers.

Costs are typically £60/person per weekend, but this will vary according to the amount of support you are able to give. KIt is available or we can advise on what to purchase if you are building up your own stores.

If you are starting up an expedition programme or considering using a new area, you are also welcome to pick our brains about the areas we use and how we structure our programme. Running D of E expeditions is a very rewarding pastime, greatly appreciated by the participants, and we’re happy to help you make a success of it.

Email jason@outspark.org.uk with any enquiries.