Adventure & Outdoors
“Excellent teamworking skills are promoted exceptionally well through the school’s emphasis on outdoor learning for all ages.”
ISI Inspection Report 2022
DOSE (Dixie Open Skies Education)
Every Thursday Years 6-8 take part in a session of outdoor education for a term as part of their enrichment activities. The aim of these sessions is not only to develop practical capabilities like shelter-building, fire-lighting and practical tool skills, but also less tangible skills like team-building, decision-making and creativity. Our pupils develop an interest in and an appreciation of the natural world and benefit greatly from the opportunities provided for autonomy, perseverance, risk-taking and to develop resilience and well-being. We have a dedicated area of woodland on the edge of the school playing fields which we continue to develop and work in. The sessions are led by forest school trained teachers and assisted by Year 10-12 students working on leadership skills and their Duke of Edinburgh awards.
Year 6 build on skills learnt at the Junior School with activities linked to their Harry Potter topic. Year 7 work towards a survival day at the end of the Spring term where they follow their own planned route using OS maps through the local area, build natural shelters, cook a meal over a fire and work as a team to complete challenges. Year 8 will focus on skills leading up to Duke of Edinburgh in Year 9 culminating in a trip to the Peak District where they will walk two self-planned routes and attempt some more challenging outdoor activities.
Duke of Edinburgh
At The Dixie Grammar School the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is offered to all students in Year 10 at Bronze level. All students who successfully complete the Bronze award are given the option to progress on to the Silver award in Year 11 and Gold in the Sixth Form. The Award is undertaken on a voluntary basis both by students and the members of staff who lead and supervise.
Students must complete four sections to gain the award; plan and undertake an expedition, learn a new skill, participate in a physical activity and volunteer to help within the local community.
The expedition section for each award is organised by the School and students take part in training and expeditions around Market Bosworth and in the Charnwood area (Bronze) and in the White Peak area of Derbyshire (Silver).
Students are responsible for arranging and completing the Skill, Physical Recreation and Volunteering sections in their own time and activities chosen vary widely depending on the individual’s aptitudes.
For further information about the Award Scheme please contact Mr L Burns, Teacher of PE or visit www.dofe.org
World Challenge
The Dixie Grammar School is very proud of the outdoors education, travel and independent learning opportunities it offers all students. Perhaps the climax of these can be seen in the bi-annual World Challenge trips – a 4 week trip for students in Years 11/Lower Sixth/Upper Sixth which is planned by the team and pushes every team member to develop themselves personally.
These are student-led ventures in which students visit a foreign county (Mozambique 2024, Madagascar 2019, Borneo 2017) to engage in some community work, test themselves on an expedition and acquire real independence skills. Every part of the programme is focussed on the students learning more about themselves, working as a team and developing their skills and potential. The destination is chosen by the group, the funds are raised by the students themselves and all the logistical planning for the trip is led by students.
The World Challenge Expedition is a life changing experience for all the students and staff. There are 4 main phases to the trip, acclimatisation, trekking, a community project and finally R & R. In acclimatisation the students learn to work as a group, adapt to the climate in their location and manage the daily life of the group including food, accommodation and transport. The trek is around 5 days and requires the group to be self-sufficient, carrying their tents or hammocks with them. For most challengers the community phase is the most rewarding, working within a school or village to help carry out a task and finding out about how their lives compare with ours at home.
The students have to be fully involved in this experience which results in them finding out about themselves, learning about teamwork and coping in situations they have never experienced before. This is a life changing event and I am proud to see the work and development of every challenger I have been with.
“The greatest part of Madagascar for me was the fact that we’d completely left behind our phones and other conveniences that we have at home, and the change of scenery and situation really forced us out of our comfort zones to do new things that we’d never have done beforehand (case in point, those braids in my hair). The fact that Madagascar was so different in every way to home gave me some perspective, too, and now I’m far more appreciative of what we have back here. It also gave me confidence, and I would encourage anyone who can, to take the opportunity and do it.” Ben Hemsworth
