Duke of Edinburghs Bushcraft for Girls - Sanity check please!

[Zodiak]

I am a teacher and have offerred to run an after school Bushcraft Duke of Edinburgh's Bronze Award course for 16 14/15year old girls. Its a long story

I would welcome sombody to sanity check my ideas.

It will be 6 one hour sessions after school and an overnight stay on a local farm, so I was thinking

Session 1 Using kinves - they can make the emergy board sharpening kits mentioned elsewhere on this forum. I can probably get the bits for that from teh tech block. The school are very twitchy about knives and they are not allowed to bring them to school, so I was going to buy 8 Frosts Maras, they can share one between two, and I will keep locked up.

Session 2 Firelighting - Lets get them onto the good stuff early, so that was just going to be a small pile of wood round the back of the sports hall just get used to setting fire to things, and probably toast some marshmallows.

Session 3 Make billies out of stainless steel sugar containers (£1 each from Wilkinsons) and wire coat hangers and learn how to cut wood with a folding saw.

Session 4 Food - This is going to be good as I am bound by all kinds of restrictions here and I have already been told that preparing chickens or rabbits on school property is out, I am probably going to start a BBQ using lighter fluid and they can make damper and bannock for that.

Session 5 Shelter Building - Its going to have to be tarps, and as money is tight probably blue pastic ones from B&Q or their DPM equivalent from the camping shop.

Session 6 - First Aid - The school insist on that one!

The Overnight stay will be 24 hours when they get to

- Put their shelters up
- Collect and prepare wood for a fire (I will buy 4 laplander saws for that)
- light a fire and cook dinner in their billies.
- Cook damper and bannock
- Sleep (no chance!)
- Relight fires, breakfast is porridge in billies and sausages on sticks.
- Make cordage from nettles
- Do some work on recognising trees

This means I am going to have to aquire:

16 tarps (or 8 double sized ones)
200m of para cord, or possibly thick sisal string for this one!
16 personal first aid kits (£1 each from wilkinson)
16 Stainless steel sugar cans (£1 each from wilkinson)
Stuff to make 16 knife sharpening sets
8 Frosts maras
4 Laplander saws

I have deliberatly left out:

- Axes, its only me a couple of female teachers to make the numbers up so I am not going to have time to do this properly and I doubt any of the girls will have decent footwear.

- Butchering, the school have pretty much told no beause of food regulations.

- Forraging, I am crap at it!

- Making gadgets, I am not going to have time to teach them the knots.

- Natural Shelters, I am not going to have time to do this justice.

Please if you have any comments about the plans then I would welcome them, but before anybody mentions it I know I could probably force the issue about butchering but I won teh battle about letting them use knives and I can't aford to upset too many other people at the moment

Oh and I can't use anybody from outside the school staff because of CRBs and insurance and stuff...

 

[JohnC]

Making chopsticks form twigs to eat food?
Insulation from the ground when under tarps

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hey Zodiak,
I'm not going to knock you on anything as you appear to have most things covered. I'm just starting to get involved with a small number of Y10 "Informal Education" pupils going for their Bronze Dof E award, so I'll be watching your progress with much interest. My involvment is through a youth club and I've not broached the topic yet as the other leaders might think I'm suggesting something sinister.

Good luck with it.

Ogri the trog

 

[hiraeth]

I would imagine you have had to do a vast amount of paper work just to get to the stage you are at now with health and safety, risk assements etc Will it be help to move the first aid session to No1 putting it before use of knives and firelighting ?

 

[Nagual]

I think what you are doing is great! I also think you may be selling yourself short, there are a few simple things you could do, combining one or two of your lessons for your 24 hour fun packed day. Perhaps making a tripod thingy for your fire to hang a billy from - the type with little cuts in the wood to allow easy height adjustment. Making 'tent pegs' out of wood simple sharpening of the wood, adding a cut to hold the line etc doesn't take long and is fairly easy to do. Make a digging stick and perhaps dig for roots for cordage?

You could cover natural shelters, make it a group exercise and make a smallish one- if anything else you could use the wood gathered for a fire if it doesn't work out... It wouldn't need to be complete, it would be enough to make a leantoo, as I am sure they would get the idea.


Cheers, Nag.

 

[Zodiak]

I would imagine you have had to do a vast amount of paper work just to get to the stage you are at now with health and safety, risk assements etc Will it be help to move the first aid session to No1 putting it before use of knives and firelighting ?

Thats a very good point, but there is a method in the madness

Each session will have a handout including a box on saftey for that topic so by the time we reach the last week most of it will have already been covered

I need to get this plan and the budget submitted and approved before I do the risk assement but there are plenty of templates around that I can use as guidance.

 

[dave1942]

Hi Zodiac,
You have a lot of courage in taking this on. We have just started a Bushcraft Club for Scouts and adult leaders in our District and have gone through all the headaches that you have especially with regards to knives. Just a few places to try for equipment. We got a good deal from Wickes, the DIY store, on tarps. Have you thought about Homebase or B& Q for folding saws, they would be cheaper than the Laplander and suitable for your task. Another suggestion when using saws is to invest in some cheap leather gardening / riggers gloves. This could save some nasty cuts and would be useful when taking hot pans from the fire. We also got a good deal on Mora knives from www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk They also do paracord in 100 metre spools. Their communications and service are very good. I have no connection with any of the above companies just a satisfied customer. Good luck with your project

Dave

 

[Lithril]

I'm sorting out something similar at the moment myself, one thing I would probably do is put first aid on the first session, not quite as interesting as knives but you should probably cover it first.

 

[LazySod]

Instead of buying 8 Mora's, why not buy 16 of these and save some money to boot.

(No conection with the company yadda, yadda, yadda).

 

[hiraeth]

Someone has put a heads up that Aldi are are doing two Laplander type saws for £5 from this sunday that may be worth you checking out.

 

[Zodiak]

I'm sorting out something similar at the moment myself, one thing I would probably do is put first aid on the first session, not quite as interesting as knives but you should probably cover it first.

See above, they will be doing saftey at each stage and have already done a basic FA course as part of their expedition training. I would like to have done fires first, but there is a hockey match on that night and I am not sure what the away team would think about teachers apparently showing pupils how to set fire to the school

Someone has put a heads up that Aldi are are doing two Laplander type saws for £5 from this sunday that may be worth you checking out.

Sounds like a trip worth making, although I have never yet bought anything from Aldi that lasted half as long as I wanted it to

Hi Zodiac,
You have a lot of courage in taking this on. We have just started a Bushcraft Club for Scouts and adult leaders in our District and have gone through all the headaches that you have especially with regards to knives

I am also an ESL/DESC so its not all new and as one of my AESLs is in the 6th form I can use her for now too

One thing that I said right up front though is that both orgnisations can borrow some of my kit but not each others.

Instead of buying 8 Mora's, why not buy 16 of

That seems like a good deal... almost too good, have you tried one?

UPDATE : To late all gone

 

[LazySod]

That seems like a good deal... almost too good, have you tried one?

See this Thread

 

[Zodiak]

See this Thread

I have just realised that its "Blackspur" , I have one of their folding saws. Its quite chunky and the blade sticks more than my newer saw but its perfectly useable. the only downside it is that catch to hold the blade in place is extremely thin and I expect it to break everytime I use it, but I think it would still be useable even then. I don't have a sheath for it but keep a bit of bike inner tube over the end to stop it coming undone.

 

[Grey Owl]

Have you considered the following points:
1) Information session on appropriate clothing mentioning insulation, avoidance of cotton next to skin, handout of second-hand shops for inexpensive layers, etc. Even if they do not have the opportunity to purchase/borrow a full outfit, at least they will have the knowledge for doing appropriate selection in the future.
2) A group shelter/tarp for the campout that would allow activities and learning to continue despite inclement weather.
3) What about a night hike. Need not be long or strenous, but it is a great way to introduce them to night and peripheral vision, stealth, allay some of the night fears, chance to focus on other senses, perhaps even find a few critters and crawler, and will be one of the most memorable portions of the experience.

Good luck and I am certain that you will have a great time!

 

[Zodiak]

Have you considered the following points:
1) Information session on appropriate clothing mentioning insulation, avoidance of cotton next to skin, handout of second-hand shops for inexpensive layers, etc. Even if they do not have the opportunity to purchase/borrow a full outfit, at least they will have the knowledge for doing appropriate selection in the future.
2) A group shelter/tarp for the campout that would allow activities and learning to continue despite inclement weather.
3) What about a night hike. Need not be long or strenous, but it is a great way to introduce them to night and peripheral vision, stealth, allay some of the night fears, chance to focus on other senses, perhaps even find a few critters and crawler, and will be one of the most memorable portions of the experience.

Good luck and I am certain that you will have a great time!

Good points thanks. I will be covering clothes as part of their expedition training, so I could add a bit on there.

The group shelter is not a problem, I have access to a parachute style shelter.

I like the idea of a night hike, perhaps I could put in a hour exploration of the site, although I hate to think what the risk assesment would be on that

These will typically be the girls who don't hang around on steet corners and have probably been insulated from real life by their parents so just sleeping under a tarp will be a major advneture

 

[BOD]

Zodiak,

You mention sisal line for tarps.

Better stick to synthetic line as its easier on the hands and also easier to make and slide adjustable knots like tautline or rolling hitches.

Let us know how it went and pic if possible

Good luck

Ash

 

[Bogman10]

Great Idea! not enough people give enough credit to you who are willing to give there time to teach about something you love. GOOD ON YOU! scare them with spiders for me please, I am a mean man....eh eh.

great work Mate!
wow there are some nice people one his site!

 

[Tiley]

A brilliant initiative - all power to your elbow!

A couple of things, though, born of experience. How long are your sessions? the only reason for asking is that with something like firelighting, it can take quite a lot longer than you, or they, imagine. If they are then going to have to light one in the wilds, you really have to be sure that the majority of them can do it.

I presume that you'll be doing some basic carving with them (pegs for their shelters, pot hangers, etc.), do make sure that you have a really comprehensive kit with you at all times. It's astonishing how easily they will cut themselves, even after instruction and safety briefings - and they don't even have to be holding the knife. One of my pupils managed to cut himself down to the bone on one finger. He wasn't holding the knife but was 'helping' someone who was.

Finally, if you've got sixteen of them, see if you can't persuade some other member of staff to help out. With that number, a second pair of eyes is a real asset and actually makes the sessions more than twice as safe.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Matt Weir]

Re: the food - Why not buy a couple of small whole trout from the fishmonger as that is probably the closest you'll get to 'real' food without having to actually gut them. Then you can butterfly them and hot smoke them in the BBQ by using some oak chips (these can be bought) and pop the lid on. Just make sure that any trace of lighter fluid is gone and the charcoal is well burned in if it's that prepped stuff.

 

[Zodiak]

Zodiak,

You mention sisal line for tarps.

Better stick to synthetic line as its easier on the hands and also easier to make and slide adjustable knots like tautline or rolling hitches.

Let us know how it went and pic if possible

Good luck

Ash

Thats another good point, I tend to use the word sisal to describe thin line and I shouldn't :twak:

I will certainly report back but pictures won't be possible I am afraid, schools have very strict rules about that.

Re: the food - Why not buy a couple of small whole trout from the fishmonger as that is probably the closest you'll get to 'real' food without having to actually gut them. Then you can butterfly them and hot smoke them in the BBQ by using some oak chips (these can be bought) and pop the lid on. Just make sure that any trace of lighter fluid is gone and the charcoal is well burned in if it's that prepped stuff.

Thats a good idea, I will have to buy one this weekend to try it, oh no hang I have a huge pile of year 9 test papers to mark first