Available to Year 10-12 students who have completed their Bronze Award, or who are completely new to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. You are able to tailor your volunteering, physical and skill activities to whatever you want. You can develop old talents or start completely new ones. The Silver Award is particularly highly valued by employers as it demonstrates impressive skill and perseverance to make you stand out from other students for jobs or further education. The expeditions give you chance to make lasting friendships and memories for life.
What does it involve?
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award consists of four sections: volunteering, skills, physical activity and expeditions. You are expected to do the first three at least one hour a week for a minimum of 3 months. You will be able to submit evidence of this on the eDofE website. You will need an assessor at the end of the designated time to submit an Assessor's Report detailing what you have achieved. The assessor does not need to work within the Duke of Edinburgh scheme but does have to an awareness of the component being assessed. The assessor cannot be a family member.
For your award there is some flexibility in how much time you spend on each section. A table outlining this is below:
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Volunteering
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Skill
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Physical
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Expedition
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Bronze DofE
already completed
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6 months
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3 or 6 months
If you complete 6 months in one component you only need to complete a minimum of 3 months on the other component.
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One Practice Expedition of 2 days and 2 nights.
One Qualifying Expedition of 3 days and 2 nights.
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New to DofE
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Same as above but you need to do an extra 6 months in either volunteering or whichever of skill/physical you will do for longer.
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Students who have done Bronze before do not have to do the same activities as they had for Bronze, but equally can do the same. If you chose to do the same activity in a section, you will need to show progression in what you are doing.
For anyone who is unsure what activities they can do, suggestions about activities you could consider are included on the following link. https://www.dofe.org/do/ideas/
What training is required for the expeditions?
Your child will need to attend several compulsory training sessions in order to prepare for their expeditions. Training will include using camping equipment, first aid training and route planning. This training will mostly take place during tutor time however, occasional afterschool training may be required. It is important that your child undertakes all of these training sessions and missing multiple sessions may prevent your child from being able to take part in the expedition.
When can I start?
You will be able to start from the moment you receive a letter confirming your place on the award. These will be issued shortly after the deadline for applications on Tuesday 24 September. If you are not sure if your chosen activity counts, please check with Mr Wickington or check the list on https://www.dofe.org/do/ideas/.
How much will it cost?
We are working with Towers School this year to provide the most cost effective award this year which has seen us able to reduce the costs to £100. This will cover camping equipment, campsite fees and enrollment. It does not include food, clothing and transportation to Ashdown Forest.
If you require financial support, please address your request to the Principal who will consider each individual application on its own merit. No student will be discriminated against on the grounds of inability to pay but the school reserves the right to cancel activities if sufficient funds are not raised by voluntary contributions.
How do I apply?
Application forms have been emailed home to parents/carers and should be submitted to Mr Wickington at the earliest opportunity.
If you have any further questions, please contact Mr Wickington at chris.wickington@wyeschool.org.uk.