Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme
For over 60 years the Duke of Edinburgh's Award has been available to young people aged 14 to 25. The DofE Award is a challenging programme of activities which provides an opportunity to experience adventure, to discover new interests and talents and to develop essential skills for life and work. It is a recognised mark of achievement that is respected by employers.
A DofE programme is a real adventure from beginning to end. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from. You just need to be aged between 14 (you can start in the academic year you turn 14) and 24 and realise there’s more to life than sitting on a sofa watching life pass you by. At Edgbarrow, we run the Bronze and Silver Awards. The Bronze Award is being offered to Year 9 and the Silver Award is being offered to Year 10. Bronze is not a prerequisite and you can start Silver before you complete your Bronze.
Gold Award - this award will be by 'Open Expedition'. Students over 16 years old can register with Edgbarrow School for the award but will need to organise their own expeditions outside of term time. Edgbarrow will oversee the volunteering, physical and skills sections but will play no part in planning and expedition delivery.
Award overview
You achieve your Award by completing a personal programme of activities in four sections (five if you're going for Gold) - Volunteering, Physical, Skills, Expedition and for Gold, a Residential. You'll find yourself helping people or the community, getting fitter, developing skills, going on an expedition and taking part in a residential activity (Gold only). The best bit is - you get to choose what you do! Your programme can be full of activities and projects that get you buzzing, and along the way, you’ll pick up experiences, friends and talents that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
We work with expedition company Off-Grid Adventures (www.offgridadventures.co.uk) to deliver training and expedition logistics for our Bronze Walking and Silver Walking and Paddling Expeditions.
Bronze
Bronze consists of the Expedition section culminating in a 2 day assessed expedition. Meanwhile, participants should be undertaking 3 months of at least 1 hour a week for each of their skill, physical and volunteering sections. An additional 3 months is undertaken in 1 of these 3 to make a total of 6 months. Most participants aim to complete their award within 12 months.
Silver
The Silver expedition section consists of a training weekend and two separate 3 day/2 night expeditions. Meanwhile, participants should be undertaking 6 months volunteering and 6 months skill or physical. The remaining section is for 3 months. If Participants have not completed Bronze then one of their 6 month sections must be extended to last 12 months.
Gold
The Gold expedition section consists of a training weekend and two separate 4 day/3 night expeditions. The second one is assessed. Both expeditions have to be in “wild country” – i.e. one of our national parks. You also need to complete a 5-day residential activity for Gold that involves staying away from home doing a shared activity with people you don’t know. Meanwhile, participants should be undertaking 12 months volunteering and 12 months skill or physical. The remaining section is for 6 months. If participants have not completed Silver then one of their 12 month sections must last 18 months.
Training Schedule 2024
- Bronze Training Day - 23rd March
- Bronze Walking Practice, Chilterns - 20th & 21st April
- Bronze Walking Assessed, Chilterns - 29th & 30th June
- Silver Walking Training Day - March (TBC)
- Silver Walking Practice, New Forest - 16th-19th May (TBC)
- Silver Walking Assessed, New Forest - 5th-7th July (TBC)
- Silver Canoeing Practice, Reading - 16th-19th May (TBC)
- Silver Canoeing Assessed, Brecon, Wales - 5th-7th July (TBC)
Information for parents/carers
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Bronze DofE Launch Letter to Parents/Carers |
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Useful Documents and Letters
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Bronze Documents |
Silver Documents |
Gold Documents | |||
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Silver Walking Expedition Guide 2023 Silver Walking Expedition Schedule 2023 |
Off Grid Adventures - Open Expedition Dates 2023
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Volunteering Opportunities
To help with your application please think about what you would like to do for each section. There are lots of useful documents and help on the DofE website. Here are some useful links: Program planners to assist your planning of each section are available here: These don't need to be handed in with your application but are to help you and for your own reference. The documents linked above are all on display on the DofE noticeboards in school as well. Once you have decided what you want to do you can submit all your activity plans in a single document to the eDofE website (this is the DofE online system that enables you to record your intended aims, track your progress and upload evidence of your achievements). For further information visit the DofE website.
For further information regarding our Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme please email: |
