Co-Curricular

DofE Update – Completing The Volunteering, Physical And Skills Sections - Reminder

Well done to those who have managed to sign off sections of their award despite current restrictions.  I have been delighted by the response, fantastic!  Lots of you have asked your assessor to submit an electronic report, excellent.

The continued priority should be to complete the physical, skill and volunteering sections.  The aim for all bronze and silver participants should be to sign these off before their qualifying trip.

Please refer to the attached electronic assessor report guide illustrating how you can get your award signed off during lockdown conditions. Click here for the guide.

This is a summary of the temporary changes DofE have introduced to help you complete on time:

  • Participants can now volunteer for family members – e.g. mentoring or coaching younger siblings
  • Participants can now change activities more than once – time spent on previous activities will still count.  You will need an assessor report for both activities though.
  • Timescales - you can now choose to do your section activities less regularly, but for a longer period – so instead of doing an hour each week, you could think about doing two hours every other week if that fits better with your chosen activity.  The activity must still be spread across the number of months you’ve chosen to spend on that section but you could do 4 hours per month on one day. 

If you haven’t yet started one of your sections this is the perfect opportunity, the DofE requirements have never been more flexible!  The link below provides some example activities that can be completed at home.

https://www.dofe.org/dofewithadifference/activities

The DofE have also provided some useful FAQs for participants:

https://www.dofe.org/coronavirus/faqs-participants

It is also worth checking the opportunity finder if you’re still struggling for ideas:

https://www.dofe.org/opportunity-finder/opportunity-for-dofe-participant/

Here are some tips if you can’t find someone to be your assessor, though I’m sure Princethorpe Staff (for example your tutor) will happily help you out:

https://www.dofe.org/dofewithadifference/assessors

Well done to all DofE participants for their continued commitment to the scheme in the current climate.

Will Bower
Head of Outdoor Education – DofE Manager

DofE Rearranged Expedition Dates - Reminder

We have formulated a plan regarding the bronze, silver and gold expeditions. Please refer to the recent email containing full details of the changes and next steps.

Please see below a basic summary of the dates. Whilst we hope to stick to these dates, government guidelines may mean we are forced to change the locations.

Date Level Stage Location
Monday 13 July 2020
9.00am – 4.00pm
Bronze Practice Local Area
Tuesday 14 July 2020
9.00am – 4.00pm
Bronze Practice Local Area
Wednesday 15 July 2020
9.00am – 4.00pm
Bronze Practice Local Area
Wednesday 19 11.00am – Saturday 22 August 2020 9.00pm Gold Practice Lake District
Thursday 20 11.00am – Saturday 22 August 2020 7.00pm Silver Practice White Peaks
Saturday 12 9.00am – Sunday 13 September 2020 4.00pm Bronze Qualifier Local Area
Saturday 19 9.00am – Sunday 20 September 2020 4pm Bronze Qualifier Local Area
Sunday 18 11.00am – Thursday 22 October 2020 9.00pm Gold Qualifier North Wales
Thursday 29 6.00am – Saturday 31 October 2020 6.00pm Silver Qualifier  Dark Peaks 


Will Bower
Head of Outdoor Education – DofE Manager

Year 7 Andrea Enjoys An Online Musical Summer Holiday

Year 7 pupil, Andrea Zanyi, took part in Ex Cathedra's first ever virtual singing workshop on Friday 5 June, preparing three tunes (in English, Latin, and Middle English!) for A Musical Summer Holiday online concert, together with 200, mainly adult, singers. In the workshop Andrea was taught by Jeffrey Skidmore, the founder and director of Ex Cathedra, and one of the UK's leading choral directors. Apart from being enjoyable, the experience enhanced Andrea's knowledge of singing techniques and warming up exercises, a great help for her as she works towards her Grade 7 in Musical Theatre.

The final 30 minute concert additionally includes a compilation of music from Ex Cathedra's previous Summer Music By Candlelight concerts, which are annual events sadly cancelled this year due to COVID-19. 

Andrea performes in the two tunes ending the concert: Te Lucis Ante Terminum, a 7th century chant in Latin and English, and Summer Holiday (2nd version) by Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett (arr. Jeffrey Skidmore).

The concert can be accessed here.