First Aid for Gold DoE Students

As agreed at the weekend, I have organised a session on first aid in my room on:

Tuesday 22nd July at 1:50pm in M2

I expect it to last a little over an hour, but this maybe longer if you wish to cover more.

The aim of the session is to increase your confidence in first aid procedures by giving you practical scenarios to 'manage'.

Please let me know if you cannot attend. Could you also tell the other Gold students about this post, even if they have read it! The session really will help with your confidence.

Final Meeting

Please remember you are all expected to attend the final meeting this week:
WEDNESDAY 16th JULY in M2 at 3:00pm!!
Please arrive promptly and bring a pen in case you wish to write anything down.
This meeting is for PUPILS ONLY, parents do not need to be there.

Thanks,
Mr B.

GOLD meeting Monday 31st March

I have been asked by several of the Gold students to call a meeting on Monday (31st March, break 1 in M2) to get you all together so that teams can be sorted, jobs given out and the paperwork started!?

Remember, the deadline for BOTH the Wild Country forms and the O.A.P forms is Friday 4th April.

This is not my dealine, it's DoE's and be warned, you have no chance of extending it!

DoE Planning...how's it going?

You have been very quiet about your planning recently and I can only hope this means that you are progressing nicely...if this is not the case you MUST come and see me for help.

I am proposing to use the last weekend of the Easter Holiday (19th/20th April) to complete your practice expedition. I have tried to avoid May and June for obvious reasons. As mentioned previously, I think the best place to complete this would be Exmoor, which some of you will know already, and is now counted as a wild country area. This should help with the O.A.P form for Poland. Reading the Award website, it states that:

"Practice journeys at Silver and Gold levels should include two or more full days and nights away from home."

I suggest that we travel to Exmoor on the Friday evening (18th April), complete the weekend training and return to school approx 17:00 on the Sunday (20th April). I will, of course, ask the question of County about those particpants who are going to Exmoor two weeks earlier, to see if you need to repeat this exercise!? Permission slips for this will be available soon, please let me know ASAP if you cannot make this date. Mention this to those people in your group who are still not checking the Blog regularly!

I have an electronic copy the 'Green Form' with Kingdown information on it, which must be sent to the Exmoor panel VERY SOON! Tracings (A4) of the route you intend to walk must also be included. Please email me at: bl@kingdown.wilts.sch.uk to receive the green form from me. You can then add all your team information and EMAIL it back to me for sending to the expedition panel. I also have maps of Exmoor available in my room for when you wish to plan your route and paper to do the tracings on.

To make sure you are on task, please arrange for one or two members of you team to see me at any time this week and give details of your progress so far. You have enough time to complete everything, but you must stay on top of it! Good luck, Mr B.

18 - 0

'Number of people registering an interest in Gold DoE - attendance at first Gold DoE meeting'.

"Disappointing..." was the response from the coach.

This means that AT LEAST 18 people had not looked at the website last week. Considering I gave details of the site and the need to check it on the last letter I sent home and I have placed posters around school with the same information on, you will understand my concern!

This is how I am going to communicate to you the information you need for Poland. It is up to you to check, I have done my bit!

I will provide another opportunity to for you to meet me on TUESDAY (4th March) BREAK 1 in M2 (be there by 10:55) to organise teams for the Gold DoE and begin preparing the O.A.P form (please read the previous post). You will obviously have a week and a half less time, but it is still immensely 'do-able' if you share the jobs out and get on with it!

REMEMBER: PARENTS EVENING THIS THURSDAY (6th MARCH @ 6pm in DRAMA STUDIO)

Last piece of information FOR ALL STUDENTS GOING TO POLAND:
I will place a copy of the latest post outside my room so it will be even easier for you to see if you are up to date. Please mention this post to anyone you see from the Poland trip.

Gold DoE Meeting 29th Feb

There will be a meeting for the 18 people that said they would like to use Poland towards gaining their Gold Award on the first Friday after half term.

BREAK 1, FRIDAY 29th FEBRUARY @ 10:55...PLEASE BE PROMPT!!

The aim of this meeting is to sort you into two groups of 9, to introduce you to the forms that need completing and to give roles to members of each group to ensure that forms are completed as soon as possible.

Links to the forms can be found on this site and you should familiarise yourselves with these before Friday.
Each team will need to:

1) Plan their training expedition (I suggest that Exmoor would be by far the easiest place to go for your training expedition!). You may also wish to use the few days we will do on the Deverills in your application form, plus consider any other kind of training that may be useful (i.e. kit selection at BCH, possibly ask Paul Harris if he could deliver basic first aid training for some/all members, etc...).

2) Give details of the route(s) you will use in Poland. Far Frontiers can help here by letting you know where to find suitable maps and will also give advice in route selection and alternatives for each day of the trek. You will need to give detailed information about the terrain you will be trekking in and the routes and escape routes you have planned.

3) Details of the accommodation...taking out of your hands by the National Park not allowing camping in the Tatras, but you will still need to provide details on the form.

4) Food, where and how you will source this when in Poland and reasons for your choices (again Far Frontiers can help you here).

5) Give the aim of the trekking expedition to Poland. There are lots of ideas for expedition aims on the internet (see the DoE site...useful links listed below) and a good way to get inspired is by investigating the History of the area.

YOU SHOULD AIM TO COMPLETE AND SEND ALL SECTIONS OF THE FORM BEFORE THE EASTER HOLIDAYS!

I will support you through the planning stages along with the other members of staff and Far Frontiers!

You will need to get busy on this between now and Easter!

Get Kit.Wear Kit.Fly

Pardon the pun, but I thought it made the point quite nicely:

Travelling tip...save space in your pack by wearing bulky kit like boots and coats on the plane.

Speaking of kit, BCH LOCK-IN CONFIRMED!!

It will take place on THURSDAY 13th MARCH, which is a week after the parents evening. It will be at the Trowbridge store at 6:45pm. Please make you're own way there. Use the link below for directions to the shop, or type "BCH Camping Trowbridge" into Google Maps.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=385853&y=158502&z=0&sv=BA14+8QE&st=2&pc=BA14+8QE&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

There will be a breif talk by BCH staff at 6:45, about the suitable kit they have for Poland, followed by an opportunity to try things on, etc. You will get a 20% discount on anything you buy on the night. Please bring only ONE PARENT with you, there will be lots of us in there on the night and it will be crowded!

YOU ALREADY OWN MOST OF WHAT YOU NEED! Please don't get carried away and start buying lots of shiny new kit, there really is no need! Only buy what you have been unable to beg, borrow or...get second hand.

I should also say that you are obviously free to go to any brand store you so choose. I organise lock-ins at BCH because they do a good discount and their staff are helpful.

If you didn't get 'the pun' then have a look at the following:

http://www.myspace.com/getcapewearcapefly

Meeting your guides

There is an opportunity for you and your parents to meet the guides from Far Frontiers that will be taking us to Poland and who will be trekking with us in the mountains.
It is REALLY IMPORTANT that you ALL attend this meeting as it is your (and your parents..) chance to ask any questions about the trip and voice any concerns.
Chris Short, whom you met at the first parents evening, will also be there and he will run through the itinerary again and explain how the timings of the two groups will work. This would also be the time to ask any questions you have regarding kit for the expedition.

This meeting will take place in the DRAMA STUDIO on THURSDAY 6th MARCH at 6:00pm. Please come into school via the front entrance. I will send a letter home shortly confirming these details.

I am currently arranging a 'lock-in' at BCH CAMPING in Trowbridge for shortly after the 6th March where you will be able to ask advice from the BCH staff and get a discount on anything you decide to buy on the evening.

Please don't go mad on kit...I suspect that you will already have most of what you require and if anything, you may only need to purchace one or two essential items.