Helping young people step up and gain Skills for Life through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award should be straightforward. To make things easy for you, your Explorers, and their parents / carers, we’ve streamlined how signups work across South East Scotland Scouts. Any questions, email us at expeditions@sesscouts.org.uk
Instead of sending parents to separate pages or confusing forms, everything now starts at one simple place: see-expeditions.org.uk/signup.
Note – this guide is about our specific process and does not replace general DofE documentation at dofe.org/do. If you have questions about timelines, age requirements, approved activities or any other aspect of DofE “rules”, start by consulting their website. Then if you have queries, just email.
DofE Award Signups
The first step is to sign up for the DofE award level, called a “participant place”. This entitles the young person to pursue the DofE award at that level. A new sign up is needed for each level they want to pursue.
New to DofE or Moving Up a Level
Who it’s for: Explorers or Network members starting Bronze, Silver, or Gold for the first time, OR moving up from a completed level (e.g., Bronze to Silver).
What happens: They enrol, we assign them a participant place and order their eDofE Welcome Pack, and get set up for their award level. This should happen within 3 weeks of signup.
Direct link to share:
see-expeditions.org.uk/signup#new
Transferring from School or Elsewhere
Who it’s for: Young people who started their DofE at school, high school, or another unit and now want to continue with Scouts.
What happens: They fill in a quick transfer form so we can move their existing eDofE record over to South East Scotland Scouts without losing any progress.
Direct link to share:
see-expeditions.org.uk/signup#transfer
Expedition Signups & Process
Remember that signup for the DofE award and the expeditions are separate. This is because some people come back to do their expedition later, and because the expedition costs vary according to level and expedition type.
Booking an Expedition
- Who it’s for: Young people already registered on eDofE for their target level who need to book their expedition for the coming season.
- What happens: They select their preferred expedition type, dates & team mates, and secure their place.
- Direct link to share:
see-expeditions.org.uk/signup#expedition
There is a closing date for expedition sign ups (on the signups page). After this date has passed, people should still submit a form in cases spaces are still available, but they will be less likely to get the dates or team-mates that they want.
What Happens Next
After signups close, we will attempt to reconcile the requested dates, team members and expedition types to form expedition teams. We aim to form teams as early as possible so that we have the most time to react in case of issues. That said, there are always issues that emerge late in the day and we can’t guarantee that everyone winds up on the expedition they want with the exact people they want.
Training
Once teams have been formed, we will invite young people to a series of training events, including online training. These will be tailored to the expedition type and level chosen, and they should be considered mandatory. We need to ensure that the young people will be safe on their expedition, and that means if we can’t validate their skills via training then they may not be permitted to participate.
The online training requires OSM sign-in. Explorers must use their own ID to sign in, not their parent or carers, otherwise their training activity will not be recorded against their name.
Expedition Portal
Young people and their parents/carers will be able to see their expedition status on this website at see-expeditions.org.uk/my-expedition
Route Planning
Explorers are asked to plan the routes for their expeditions, and this is often one of the most challenging things we ask them to do. Please support them with this in your units, for example by checking if they have done it, or by including some navigation and route planning practice in your programme.
Expedition Kit
We will be in touch ahead of any overnight event to request kit like tents and stoves. Our general approach is to ask the unit that represents the majority in a team to provide tents, stoves, compasses and survival bags.
Practice and Qualifying Expeditions
In general we try to keep teams the same through practice and qualifying expeditions, but this isn’t always possible.
Expedition Presentations
Expeditions aren’t completed until a presentation has been delivered. This is an individual not a team requirement and the DofE is very flexible in how this is done. We do not arrange any event for expedition presentations because so many units like to incorporate this into their programme to encourage others to participate in DofE.
Nights Away and other OSM Updates
In general, we do not update nights away, hikes or time on the water in OSM. We DO update first aid, if the young person does a first aid qualification via SEEE.
Leader Notifications
When a young person in your unit submits a form, you should receive an email notification to the unit contact that we hold. This is informational and you are not expected to do anything, except tell us if something seems off. That could be the young person selecting the wrong level or unit, or something else.
When a young person is in more than one explorer scout unit, notifications go to the first one listed in OSM, or the one they selected at signup.
Adult Volunteers
We would love to have you or others you know join us as volunteers. See our dedicated volunteering page at see-expeditions.org.uk/volunteer