Click here to view the Dorset Walk parent and student presentation

 

MALCOLM WHALES SPONSORED DORSET WALK 2024: (THURSDAY 11 JULY – MONDAY 15 JULY 2024)

I am delighted to share that we have been given the opportunity to support ‘The Malcolm Whales Sponsored Dorset Walk’ in July 2024. As a college, this will be the first time we have worked with the charity, but we are joining forces with our partner Secondary School, Ken Stimpson Academy and the charity Chair Damien Whales, Headteacher of Ken Stimpson Academy, who have organised the walk for many years.

The Dorset Walk is open to students in Years 9, 10, 11 and Sixth Form. The trip consists of a 3-day, 40-mile sponsored walk, along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset. The walk sets off from the seafront in Weymouth and finishes at Studland, near Poole. The route is extremely challenging with numerous ascents and descents along the way.

The walk raises funds for ‘The Malcolm Whales Foundation’, a charity set up to raise awareness and funds to support those suffering from cancer, especially as a child or teenager. Over the last 14 years with the help and support of hundreds of walkers, the Foundation has managed to raise over £420,000.

Your child has shown an interest in participating in the walk. Details are outlined below:

• Cost: £150.00
• Depart by coach Thursday 11 July 2024 and return Monday 15 July 2024.
• Thursday and Monday are travel days.
• Each day the walk is approximately 14 miles.
• Participants will be camping for 4 nights at the same campsite – ‘Burnbake Campsite’.
• Participants do not carry their equipment, as they are dropped and picked up at the start and end of each day.
• All food and drink will be provided. A small amount of spending money will be required. (On one of the nights, participants purchase their own dinner in the local town).
• Participants sleep in their own tents, which they share with their friends.

There is a short fitness test. If you, or we, have any concerns about the potential ability to complete the walk, we may ask students to participate in this very short test. The test can be completed at school or at any gym. The test attempts to replicate the intensity of the walk on a very limited scale. The test is a 20-minute inclined walk (15%) at 3mph, on a treadmill. It is not so much a pass/fail it is an attempt to get students to appreciate the physical nature of the walk.