What is The Duke of Edinburgh Award?

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is non-competitive and a powerful way for every young person to build belief in themselves, whatever their background, interests and abilities. Completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award will help students to develop essential skills whilst completing an internationally accredited Award which is highly valued and respected among employers, college's and Universities.  Completing the DofE Award is a brilliant way for your young person to discover just how much they are capable of. It gives young people the chance to make new friends, follow their passions, learn new skills and make a difference in our community.  Additionally, it helps young people to see themselves in a positive light and gain a new level of confidence. We always say that after taking on your DofE, you know that whatever life throws at you, you’re ready to deal with it.  

Volunteering, Physical and Skill sections 

At UCC we offer two of the three levels of DofE Award – Bronze and Silver. To achieve the Bronze Award, your young person will need to evidence progress in four different sections – Volunteering, Physical, Skills and the Expedition.  It will be the responsibility of each student to keep up to date with recording their own evidence to show they are working towards each of these sections on their eDofE account. Login details will be sent to each student after they have enrolled on the award. This will involve a commitment over the period of a year, while the student is participating in the Award. Support intermittently throughout the academic year in after-school sessions, additionally, support can be gained via the DofE website.

The Expedition Section 

The expedition section involves your child working as part of a small team to plan and execute a two-day expedition for the Bronze Award and 3 day expedition for the Silver Award.  Students will complete the expedition section through an Approved Activity Provider (AAP). AAP’s hold Open Award Expeditions throughout the academic year and parents are expected to book students on to the expeditions directly with the providers.   Open Award Expeditions are a series of walking expeditions that are open to all and take place throughout the DofE expedition season.  These are a great way to meet new, like-minded people and share the sense of achievement that comes from completing this part of your award together.  A list of AAP’s in the local area can be accessed via Opportunity Finder on the DofE website.  On these expeditions students will apply the skills they have developed on training walks and practice expeditions to ensure they are both competent and safe enough to participate in an assessed expedition under remote supervision.  Students will be assessed on training walks and practice expeditions against a set of criteria to ensure competence and safety for their final assessed expedition. 

Cost

We hope lots of our young people will take the opportunity to get involved with DofE. The cost to register is £35 per person.  This cover’s your child’s participation place and welcome pack which will be sent to their home address.  A further cost is incurred with the AAP's for the delivery of the expedition section.

Staff

At UCC our DofE team consists of 3 members of staff:

Mr Laywood - DofE Manager

Mr Grandidge - DofE Supervisor

Mrs Thomas - DofE Verifier

 

Any enquiries or questions should be directed to Mr Laywood in the first instance.

 

Please note, that the deadline for Year 9 enrolment for 2021-2022 is Wednesday 13th October 2021.