Letter to parents re: Moor Challenge 2016-2017

28thSeptember 2016

Dear

Moor Challenge 2016-2017: Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, 1633 Challenge, Ten Tors

Your son/daughter has expressed an interest in taking part in this years’ Moor Challenge. The Moor Challenge is now a well-established programme at St James, now about to begin its seventh year. It is a programme of day walks and expeditions based on Dartmoor and the South West coast path, and is designed to help students develop a range of skills and attributes that will help them to be happy, confident and successful in the future. All students will be able to take part in the 1633 Challenge and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, however places will be limited to either 6 or 12 students (depending on whether we are allocated 1 or 2 teams) for the Ten Tors event. The Moor Challenge is our name for the overall programme; a little more detail about each element is shown below:

  • The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme

The DofE is an internationally recognised award scheme, and is rated very highly by employers for all the qualities and attributes it helps to develop. Students have to complete four sections – volunteering, physical, skills and expeditions.

Students will need to identify what they would like to do for each of the volunteering, physical and skill sections, and each activity needs to be done for a minimum of three months (and one for six months) for an average of an hour per week.Students will also need to participate in two expeditions to complete the DofE, which will be in May and June 2017. Plenty of help and advice will be on offer in school as to what activities students can choose.

The DofE will be open to all students.

More information can be found at

  • 1633 Challenge

The 1633 Challenge is run by Exeter School, who we have worked alongside successfully for the past six years. The 1633 Challenge is a series of three overnight expeditions on Dartmoor between January and March which Exeter School originally designed to be part of the training for Ten Tors. However, it is now a successful event in its own right.

The 1633 Challenge is open to all students and we recommend that all who want to complete their DofE also take part in the training for this Challenge as it will improve their expedition skills to a level beyond that required for DofE.

  • Ten Tors

The Ten Tors is a well established nationally renowned event, and has been running for over fifty years. It is an Army organised event, where teams have to complete a 35, 45 or 55 mile route across Dartmoor over two days, taking in ten tors along the way. The teams have to camp overnight on the moor, and carry all their equipment and food with them.

The Ten Tors is a selective team event, and is only available to teams of 6. We are hoping to have two teams this year from year 10.

All three activities above make up the Moor Challenge. The idea is that students will sign up for the DofE and/or 1633 Challenge, and following the 1633 Challenge in March we will select individuals who wish to take part in Ten Tors.

Training Programme:

As the Moor Challenge is fairly demanding, there is a lot of training that needs to be done, and students who sign up will need to be dedicated and prepared to give up a significant amount of time. The dates for next year are as follows:

Saturday 15th October1sttraining walk

Monday 17th OctoberParents’ meeting – 6pm in the main hall

Tuesday 25th October (TBC)2nd training walk

Saturday 14th January3rd training walk

Saturday 28th-Sunday 29th January1633 Challenge weekend 1: North Dartmoor

Saturday 4th-Sunday 5th March1633 Challenge weekend 2: South Dartmoor

Friday 24th-Sunday 26thMarch1633 Challenge event: North/South Dartmoor

Thursday 13th-Friday 14th AprilFinal Ten Tors training (Ten Tors teams only)

Friday 5th-Sunday 7th MayTen Tors event

Thursday 25th-Friday 26th MayDofE practice expedition – East Devon

Tuesday 27th-Wednesday 28th JuneDofE assessment expedition – North Devon

We will also be running after school training sessions on Wednesday’s from 28thSeptember for the Moor Challenge. These sessions will focus on completing all of the administration for the DofE and training/preparing for training walks and expeditions.

Costs:

There are the following options in terms of cost:

Option 1: DofE registration, DofE training walks and expeditions: £79

Option 2: Moor Challenge, including DofE registration, DofE training walks and expeditions, and 1633 Challenge training walks and expeditions - £139

We are also hoping to offer a St James Moor Challenge branded insulated jacket, at a cost of £25.50. These will prove invaluable during the winter months in particular. At the parents’ meeting I will have a range of sizes for students to try on if you wish to purchase one of these.

Parent’s Meeting and Equipment:

All parents are invited to a Moor Challenge parent’s meeting on Monday 17th October at 6pm (time to be confirmed later). This meeting will offer parents the opportunity to ask questions and for us to give a bit more detailed information about the programme and the equipment required. Good discounts for equipment are available at some local outdoor shops, and while wemay be able to provide some of the necessary equipment, some will need to be bought. In particular we recommend that all participants have their own hiking boots. More details will be discussed at the parents meeting so please don’t buy lots of new equipment before then!

If you have any queries about the Moor Challenge, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school. My e-mail address is There is also a good Ten Tors website where you can find further information about the event.

If you wish to sign up your son/daughter for these events, please could you complete the attached consent form and return it to me at the school with payment as outlined above.

Yours faithfully,

Mr S J Foster

Director of Outdoor Education