FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes! To be part of Hexnet you must be in a Hallam Explorer unit or if you are 18+ you will be part of Grindstone Network.
We require you to be an active member of a Scout group so that you are covered by the scouting insurance.
No, here at Hexnet our aim is to help you achieve your Chief Scout's/King's Scout awards. These awards have the same requirements as DofE plus a few extra elements, therefore we sign off your DofE awards along the way as a bonus.
If you only want to complete DofE, Hexnet is not the group for you and there are many other providers that can facilitate this.
All of our meetings are compulsory as we need to ensure you have the correct training in order to have the skills to execute and be safe on expedition.
If you are unwell, please send us an email to hexnetscouts@gmail.com to let us know and we will send you some resources to catch up on any learning you have missed out on.
Should you miss more than 2 of the 6 evening meetings, we will need to assess whether we feel you are able to attend expedition. We will discuss this with you and may need to arrange some further teaching.
Yes, at Hexnet we require you to be aged 15 before you sign up to Diamond. We understand that some schools will allow you to do the DofE levels earlier, however at Hexnet this age limit is for several reasons:
The structure of meetings at Hexnet is designed so to take into account the exams and school timings for each level/year group. At Silver, if you attend from 14+ you will have to apply to take an extra day off school for the expedition, whereas from 15+ you will be out of school already.
By taking Diamond early, you will have to take a year out before they do Kings/Gold because there is a hard and fast rule that you have to be 16 before starting, that we cannot get around.
The above points become even more complex when your group is of a mixed age. If half of the group is the right age, and half aren't, the way the evenings are planned means you might not be together as a team for planning routes/some training and won't be working as a team the whole time. This would be fine if we were a small group at Hexnet, but with over 100 kids each year it becomes a nightmare to keep a track of who should be where and when. Additionally, half of the team will have to wait for the other half to be old enough to do Kings, or you will need to find other members to fill their team.
Yes! Anyone who is working towards Dimond/King's and hasn't previously done an award with us at Hexnet will need some further training to catch you up to speed. We will identify this in the first meeting and make you aware of any extra meetings you will need to attend.
General Questions
ICV stands for International, Community, Values. These are activity sections which are required to sign off your awards.
You need a different amount depending on the level of award you are working on:
Platinum Chief Scout's Award = 2
Diamond Chief Scout's Award = 4
King's Scout Award = 6
You can only do a total of two activities for each section.
The activities are accumulative across the awards, so any you did in Platinum count towards your Diamond award, and any you did in Diamond/Platinum count towards your King's Award. Because of this you can do more than the minimum for each award and bank the ICV's early on if you so wish.
Signing off an ICV is easy! Just email in the details of the activity you did (date & brief description) to the ICV team and include some evidence of this too (photos, powerpoint, word document etc).
In the same way that you sign off ICV's - just send an email to the ICV team with details of when and where the camp was, how many nights away it was for and whether it was under canvas or in a building.
Your nights away count from the age of 14+ (when you were an Explorer) and must be from a scouting event/camp. This could be from an Explorers camp, as a young leader for another group, at a national scouting event/camp or could even be as part of a volunteer team helping a scout campsite.
The ICV team is Katie & Stephanie and they are in charge of ICV's and nights away. You can contact them at hexneticv@gmail.com
If you go the the 'badge' section on OSM, you can select the 'ICV Progress (Hexnet)' badge. Once an ICV has been completed, you will be able to see it here.
If you still can't work out what you have done/what you need to do, please contact the ICV team at hexneticv@gmail.com
International, Community & Values
Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Simon Maltby is the eDofE Leader at Hexnet and you can email him using this address: hexnetedofe@gmail.com
Your name!
It's not always easy to work out who someone is from their email address, so please include your full name so that we can easily identify who you are.
Activity Log, Evidence, Assessor Report
Photos (doing the activity, certificates, medals, books, music, activity schedule, etc), computer files (such as WORD, EXCEL, PDF, etc), links to videos, links to sound recordings, etc.
Evidence to show that Module A of the Scout Young Leader Training Programme has been completed, or
Evidence to show that Module 1 of the Young Leader Qualification Programme has been completed.
Your Explorer Scout Leader, the Group Scout/Guide Leader where you are volunteering, HEXNET Explorer Scout Leader.
No.
Yes.
The information you need to input depends on the Award Level.
However, most of the information can be copied from your route card.
Focus, Determination, Tenacity, Persistence, and Resilience (aka help from parents/carers!)
At least 5 people must be in the group taking part in the residential activities.
No, group members and staff must be unknown to you.
Unfortunately not, as you know the other participants
A 'squiggle' is the term we use to describe the line you draw on the map for your route
You must have at least 4 people in a group, with no more than 7. All people within the group must be at Hexnet and they must be working towards the same level of award.
Platinum - 2 days, 6 hours of activity / 15km per day
Diamond - 3 days, 7 hours of activity /17km per day
Kings Scout - 4 days (5 days including travel), 8 hours of activity / 20km per day
You cannot take part in the qualifying expedition unless you have successfully completed at least one practice expedition.
Yes, except for Platinum practice expeditions where these are booked by leaders.
Ensure campsites are books as soon as your squiggles have been cleared.
Please check the expedition booklet which conforms the campsite for your group.
Details on the expedition aim, including suggestions are on the DofE website, https://www.dofe.org/thelatest/expedition-aims/
Expedition
Equipment
Hexnet provides groups with copies of their route cards, Maps for the relevant areas, a Compass and a Group First Aid kit to the group at the start of their expedition and will collect it from them at the end. Of course if you have your own you are welcome to bring them along and use them instead. Leaders will just need to check them at the start.
Hexnet have a small stock of Tents, Stoves, Pans, Bags, Waterproofs and other equipment available to members to hire for their expedition should they need it. Our advice is always that if you are going to complete multiple award it is likely in the long term that buying your own equipment may be more suitable and economic. If you do wish to hire equipment there is a form on the website (located on the expedition page) which you can fill in and submit prior to your expedition with your requirements on it.
We want to make sure that equipment is readily available for those who need it, and that the equipment is in a good working condition. Unfortunately in the past Hexnet equipment has been damaged and mistreated leading to significant costs in replacing these items. As a result we charge a small rental fee to enable us to keep stock of the relevant kit, and a deposit to ensure that no damage is caused or can be paid for should it occur on expedition. Of note since we have introduced this system we have seen no incidents of loss or damage to the equipment being hired compared to before. As always if the cost of hiring the equipment is an issue then support is available from the District Hardship Fund.
Dates will be sent out a few weeks before the expedition for when a collection evening is going to be held. Generally this is 1-2 weeks before and after the expeditions. It is expected that Groups will send a representative or parent to the evening to collect and check their equipment and pay the required fee. Likewise they will also need to return it after the expeditions in a clean and dry condition.
In the unfortunate event any hired equipment is lost of damaged on the expedition then you may lose some or all of your deposit (depending on the circumstances) to compensate the financial loss to Hexnet. Should this occur a member of the equipment team will discuss this with you or your parent.
If since submitting your form you need to change anything regarding your hired equipment then please email the Hexnet equipment inbox as soon as possible, or speak to one of the team at a Hexnet Night.
Finance
Membership fee: £10 per year
Training weekend (only for Explorers new to Hexnet): £50
Platinum/Bronze expedition: £30 for the first weekend (campsite fees included), £22 for the second weekend (you will be asked to pay for your campsite)
Diamond/Silver: £32* Per expedition
Kings/Gold: £75* Per expedition
* Campsite fees are now not included. We no longer provide cash for explorers to take on expedition for campsites. This is because it was incredibly difficult to calculate and reimburse each expedition group for their campsite costs. We now ask you to pay campsites directly. We have reduced the costs for all expeditions accordingly.
Other costs through the year:
Duke of Edinburgh enrolment £?
Campsite costs: these are now paid directly to the campsite. On average campsites come to about £7 for the Platinum/Bronze expedition, £12 for Diamond/Silver (total for 2 nights camping) and £24 Kings/Gold expeditions (total for 3 nights camping).
Outdoor clothing, boots and camping equipment: We won't let Explorers go out on expedition without suitable outdoor gear. We expect Explorers to purchase their own clothing and camping equipment, although we do have a small supply of tents and camping equipment that can be rented from us. Lots of information about the kit can be found on the eDOE website here: https://www.dofe.org/shopping/dofe-expedition-kit-list/. HEXNET equipment rental costs can be found here: https://www.hexnetscouts.co.uk/equipment-requests. We recommend the explorers add what they need to their Christmas present lists!
We would never want cost to be a barrier to Explorers joining up to Hexnet and working towards their awards. We can tap into financial support at a local or district level depending on what is required. We have small stocks of equipment we can lend out if needed. We can also help you access support from your Explorer unit. Please email us at hexnetfinance@gmail.com if you would like to discuss this further.
Membership fee:
This is an annual fee that goes towards the running of Hexnet nights during the year. It covers the costs of things such as paper and printing costs.
This payment also contributes to the bigger running costs of the unit and subsidises the Kings/Gold expeditions to a degree.
We are eligible to claim gift aid on this payment which raises extra money for Hexnet We will send you a gift aid email asking for your tax payer details. Please respond so that we can claim on your behalf!
Training weekend:
Your payment for training weekend covers the cost of accommodation and food for the Explorers and leaders.
Any extra left over contributes to the bigger running costs of the unit, and subsidises the Kings/Gold expeditions to a degree.
Expedition payments:
The largest part of this payment goes to a contribution to leaders for fuel and car running costs, and a contribution towards leader food costs. Expeditions require lots of close leader supervision, and lots of driving to reach the groups! On Kings/Gold expeditions in particular, a leader can be expected to drive around 100 miles a day.
The payment also goes towards leader accommodation costs. For Platinum and Diamond expeditions, the leaders camp. For King's expeditions, the leaders stay in basic self catering accommodation.
We provide basic mobile phones for groups whilst out on expedition which require occasional replacement and regular pay-as-you-go top-ups.
King's expeditions costs are subsidised by other Hexnet payments.
General running costs:
Any funds left over from the various payments go towards
maintenance and replacement of camping equipment such as tents and compasses
Printing costs
Training for leaders, including first aid, hillwalking permits, DOE training
Hardship funding
Subsidising the Gold expeditions
Website costs
Banking costs
OSM costs
Payments are taken by direct debit via Online Scout Manager. We ask you to sign up to 3 different payment ‘schedules’: membership fees, training weekend and expeditions. When you sign up for events our online payment service requests payment for that event.
We cannot take any payments from your account without you signing up to each payment schedule and signing up to individual events or membership.
