April 2nd 2013

Ou est le mail out? 

Bonjour! Ca va? London team members Kirsty and Jo are raising sponsorship to help disadvantaged young people take part in the DofE by cycling from London to Paris this May. If you would like to sponsor them in their endeavours to help make sure the reach of the DofE is extended as widely as possible across the capital, please do so via their JustGiving pages here: 
http://www.justgiving.com/KirstyYoung90 (Kirsty) 
and here: http://www.justgiving.com/jomarieamand (Jo). 

Ça plane pour moi!

Oh, and don't forget to return the quiz at the bottom to Jack.Kirby@DofE.org for another exciting prize!

Let's get statistical 

As that time of year approaches please make sure all your Awards awaiting approval are signed off and any new participants are created on eDofE prior to 31st March 2013 (Sunday).  Awards approved and new starts allocated after this date will not be counted in this reporting year.  It is imperative that we capture the correct figures for work carried out in this year to help us to better understand the support needed for our network and direct our resources to best effect. Details on the Annual Statistical return will be sent to DofE Managers in the coming weeks. Awards submitted for approval after April 19th will be signed off by your Award Verifier.

Open Residential 

All Gold Award participants are welcome to apply for our open residential to the Gambia in the October half term. It will involve cultural exploration, purposeful work and volunteering with schools. The residential will cost £1150.00 per person all included except lunch costs and drinks. To book or for more information please contact Kirsty.Young@DofE.org and please distribute this flyer to your participants.  

Participants seeking expeditions 

Two male participants in Sutton require a Bronze practice expedition to run April, May or early June. They will have completed their expedition training before going on the practice. Please contact  Sarah.Alderman@sutton.gov.uk if you can assist. 

A female participant from St Gregory's Catholic Science College requires a Silver practice prior to her assessed expedition in July. Please contact her leader Neil Rossiter at  nrossitersgs@gmail.com if you can assist.

Everest event 

The RGS and the Himalayan Trust are celebrating the 60 year anniversary of the first ascent of Everest with a special talk on Wednesday May 29th. The theme is Lasting Legacy which the DofE is a part of - the expedition team Leader went on to set up the DofE Charity. Trustees Debra Searle and David Hempleman-Adams are both speaking. Please see here for further info.

Jobs

The latest vacancies with the DofE are online  at http://www.latestvacancies.com/DofE/ and lately include an Events Co-ordinator and Partnerships Manager positions both in London and an Operations Officer position in the South East Region.

Available training

DofE London is offering lots of training including Expedition Assessors Accreditation Scheme, Introduction to the DofE for Leaders, BEL Level 3 Assessment Course and Expedition Supervisors Training. See here for full details and how to book. 

Please be aware the London Regional Office are not offering BEL Training Courses. 

eDofE Training

Kirsty will be running free beginners eDofE training for those with little to no experience of eDofE approximately every six weeks on the following dates:

* 1st May (PM)
* 17th May (AM)
* 11th June (PM)
* 29th July (PM)
* 11th September (PM)

Jack will be running free intermediate eDofE training for those with some experience of using the system but would like a refresher every ten weeks on the following dates:

* 26th April (PM)
* 26th June (PM)
* 4th September (PM)

Attendees' names and email addresses should be sent to the appropriate
tutor at either Kirsty.Young@DofE.org or Jack.Kirby@DofE.org.

Quiz! 

1. Who is cycling to Paris to raise money for disadvantaged participants?
2. From which school is the Silver participant who is seeking a practice
Expedition?
3. Which regional office is seeking to employ an Operations Officer?

Until next time! 

We Built this Mail Out on Rock and Roll...

Welcome to your latest DofE London Mail Out, the best Mail Out provided by the DofE in the whole of London. As ever, please read carefully and send anything for inclusion next time to Jack.Kirby@DofE.org. Due to the success of the previous edition’s competition, we will once again be offering an amusing prize for those who answer the questions at the end of this message.

Plotr

We are pleased to announce that we have teamed up with www.Plotr.co.uk, a new website that highlight opportunities for young people and is full of great advice for gaining employment. Do check it out when you can. If you have any job opportunities, internships, training, special events or similar please email Jack.Kirby@DofE.org to get them promoted to Plotr users. We will be promoting access to open award centres and our various youth engagement platforms on the site.

iPhone Competition 

Our iPhone competition was won by Hadi Arran of Wandsworth. You can see his winning entry  on our Facebook page.

Expedition Information

We’ve been asked to make you aware of some changes in the New Forest.

•           Drop Cards (information left by participants to notify staff of their progress) are now banned in the New Forest by the Forestry Commission, please use alternative supervision methods

•           Wild camp sites now incur a charge of £10 per team and still need to be booked in advance with the Forestry Commission

•           Due to flooding and wet conditions it is very important to stick to paths and check routes in advance

•           Impact on environment and safety is increased when crossing open areas in these conditions

•           Remember participants getting into a vehicle to ‘get round a wet bit’ are not fulfilling the first of the 20 conditions!

For more information or to book an assessor or wild camp site please visit either:

http://newforestean.org.uk/ New Forest Expedition Assessor Network

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/newforest Forestry Commission Website

Plan ahead and prepare for any expedition area by contacting the Assessor Network, details here: www.dofe.org/expeditionareas

London Volunteers Orientation Weekend

We have 5 spaces free for the March 9th – March 10th event. You must be nominated by your DofE Manager to attend this event. Find a nomination form here. The event will take place at the Park Inn, Harlow and is free; all accommodation and catering included.

Please note that there are no more spaces available on the June weekend.

Conference Reminder

All DofE Managers need to get their booking forms into Kirsty.Young@DofE.org asap. A reminder of dates:

18th March – DLC State and Academy Schools

19th March – DLC Independent Schools

23rd – 24th April – Local Authority Managers

Training

We have the following training courses coming up…

EAAS, Wednesday 20th March 2013, £130, Award House, 7-11 St Matthew Street

ESTC, Thursday 11th April 2013, £135, Award House, 7-11 St Matthew Street

IttDofE, Thursday 9th May 2013, £95, Award House, 7-11 St Matthew Street

Please go to our website for details of how to book onto one of these courses.

eDofE Training

Kirsty will be running free beginners eDofE training for those with little to no experience of eDofE approximately every six weeks on the following dates:

•           28th March

•           1st May

•           11th June

•           29th July

•           11th September

Jack will be running free intermediate eDofE training for those with some experience of using the system but would like a refresher every ten weeks on the following dates:

•           26th April

•           26th June

•           4th September

Attendees’ names and email addresses should be sent to the appropriate tutor at either Kirsty.Young@DofE.org or Jack.Kirby@DofE.org.

Stats

A reminder to all DofE Managers stats returns will be due in the near future. Once we received the questionnaire from Head Office, Peter Fleet will be providing more information on what we need from you.

eDofE Award Verifier Role

As mentioned at the DofE Managers conferences, written about in the DofE Magazine and mentioned in previous mail outs, the Award Verifier Role is coming to eDofE on 19th April 2013. You can find out more about the role here. Please contact Mat or Jo if you have any questions.

 Jobs

The Northern Ireland office are currently seeking a new Operations Officer and a new Administrative Assistant. Please click here for more info.

 …And Finally

If you can answer the following questions, email them to Jack.Kirby@DofE.org to receive an amusing prize!

1.         What are now banned in the New Forest?

2.         When is the next ESTC course?

3.         When is the Award Verifier role being brought in?

Until next time!