Tonight we had an Orienteering session with the S3 Duke Of Edinburgh Bronze Award group. We were at Muiravonside, a country park 2 miles from school, so ideal. We used the permanent orienteering course with some controls missing from the January storms. The group, 16, worked well. They gelled after the session with the BBQ too, thanks Mr G for the loan of your Barbie – not the pink one… We could have stayed longer as more wanted to cook food. Some of the group were introduced to the joys of veggy sausages and BBQ relish !

We started by splitting into pairs then split into three groups. Each group did a ‘map walk’ learning about symbols, setting the map with a compass and recognising features on the ground. The we progressed to setting a route and following it. The each pair when out to a control then back to teacher for feedback. Then out to another control and repeat. once the pair and the teacher are happy with the skills learnt, each pair were sent out on the full course. It’s good for each pair to stick together, make decisions as a team, think about timing and distances.