Duke of Edinburgh's Award

For over 60 years the Duke of Edinburgh's (DofE) 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 to deliver training and expedition logistics for our Bronze Walking and Silver Walking and Paddling Expeditions.www.offgridadventures.co.uk

Bronze Award

Bronze consists of the expedition section culminating in a 2-day assessed expedition. Meanwhile, participants should be undertaking three months of at least 1 hour a week for each of their skill, physical and volunteering sections. An additional three months is undertaken in one of these three sections to make a total of six months. Most participants aim to complete their award within 12 months.

Training Schedule 2024

Bronze Training Day - 23rd March
Bronze Walking Practice, Chilterns - 20th & 21st April
Bronze Walking Assessed, Chilterns - 29th & 30th June

Silver Award

The Silver expedition section consists of a training weekend and two separate 3-day/2-night expeditions. Meanwhile, participants should be undertaking six months volunteering and six months skill or physical. The remaining section is for three months. If participants have not completed Bronze then one of their s month sections must be extended to last 12 months.

Training Schedule 2024

Silver Canoeing Practice, Reading - 17th-19th May
Silver Canoeing Assessed, Brecon, Wales - 5th-7th July

Gold Award

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 six months. If participants have not completed Silver then one of their 12 month sections must last 18 months.

DofE Gold Sixth Form Enrolment Letter

To help with your application please think about what you would like to do for each section - Skill, Physical and Volunteering. There are lots of useful documents and help on this page and the DofE website.

Useful Documents

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:DofE website

For further information regarding our Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme please email:
dofe@edgbarrowschool.co.uk