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C O - C U R R I C U L A R
Duke of Edinburgh Award News
We have recently been presented with a certificate of
social value for 2019-20 which details the total hours DofE
participants at Bancroft’s donated to our local community. In
the year this totalled 3,822 hours of voluntary service. The
social value of these hours in a staggering £16,626! Across
London, DofE participants contributed an incredible 356,616
hours volunteering to help others, which equates to a social
value of over £1.5 million.
The weekend of the 7 and 8 March saw 108 members of the
U4 head out into the wilds of Epping Forest for their Duke of
Edinburgh Bronze Award training weekend. It was possibly the
muddiest conditions that we had ever seen for this weekend.
Some paths were almost impassable and pupils frequently
found themselves at least ankle deep in the mud. Boots and feet
parted company on several occasions. Camping conditions were
interesting, to say the least.Thankfully, further rain held off until
early afternoon on Sunday. Maybe not the best introduction to
DofE expeditions but well done to all those who made it through
the weekend and remained smiling.
This training weekend was the last
DofE expedition before lockdown,
all others for the year have been
cancelled. Fortunately the participants’
experiences were enough to enable
staff to sign off the expedition section
of the Bronze Award. We are hoping
that “normal service” will be resumed
in October half term with a mega-
Gold expedition to Snowdonia which
will combine the training expedition
with qualifying one.
Sea Scouts
Winter Camp
It was a chilly and somewhat damp Friday evening at the end
of February as the 4th EFS (Bancroft’s) Sea Scouts arrived for
Winter Camp and what was to be one of our last face to face
meetings for a while.
Forty two Scouts and older Cubs settled themselves into their
dormitories and got wrapped up for the first activity of the
weekend.This involved a small assault course in the dark involving
a crawl through the mud under scramble nets coupled with a
mental challenge that required each team to collaborate from
both sides of the nets. Hot chocolate and an early night made
sure they were all ready for the fun the following morning.With
bleary eyes and plenty of tea we got Saturday underway with a
decent breakfast to prepare for a long day ahead.
Matthew Balchin, Scout Section Leader
This year the Scouts and Cubs took part in rifle shooting; a
challenging assault course; zip wires and the rather intimidating
leap of faith, which involves climbing to the top of a 7m high
pole, balancing at the top and then leaping off, reaching out for
the adjacent trapeze. Some of those on their first camp learned
a variety of ways to light a fire using such objects as: wire wool;
a battery; cough mixture; water sterilizing tablet;, firesticks and, of
course, a match. Happily, all survived the various challenges and
the intermittent rain, although washing machines back at home
would have needed some overtime afterwards. Saturday night saw
the Scouts prepping and cooking their own before heading out
into the dark to find various leaders, camouflaged and hidden in
the forest, and collecting the various clues.
A quick change and the evening activities kicked
off.Wecouldn’t
reach the camp fire pit this year for fear of sinking into the
surrounding bog so, sadly, camp fire wasn’t possible.This year,
therefore, we turned the lodge hall into a Las Vegas games room,
complete with Vegas style lighting, music, air hockey, dominoes,
board games, word games, chill out areas and two card tables
where a number of scouts learned the true meaning of ’poker
face’.To recreate the atmosphere, the leaders all dressed up either
as croupiers or in black tie. After another early start on Sunday,
everyone completed their final activity in the much-improved
and quite pleasant weather before packing their kit, clearing their
rooms and heading home for lunch and a long sleep.