Duke of Edinburgh's Award
“The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has helped countless young people on their sometimes difficult path to adulthood.”
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT
For the past seven decades, the DofE Charity has inspired and transformed the lives of millions of young people from all walks of life. From volunteering to physical activities, life skills to expeditions, achieving a DofE Award is a passport to a brighter future, valued by employers and universities alike.
The benefits of achieving a DofE Award at any level are endless. It’s difficult to list them all here, but you should definitely know how much fun you’ll have, how pushing yourself to do new things will help you to grow in confidence and develop useful skills. Why meeting new people will inspire you and lead to lasting friendships. And how a DofE Award can give you the edge when you apply for college, university or a job.
Put simply, the DofE is about helping you along the path to a productive and prosperous future. As many of our participants say, it’s life-changing.
(From the DofE Award Website)
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award at Birchwood
If you have any questions, please email DofE@birchwoodhigh.org.uk
We run the award with Year 9 students in to Year 10, this allows students to complete their Bronze award without affecting their GCSE studies. The award starts in January and students attend weekly meetings on DofE meet every Friday in B11, 15.30-16.30, to carry out the training needed for the expedition, in their own time students are expected to complete the Volunteering, physical or skills sections. These can be done in school but must be completed outside of lesson time.
The Gold Award is now also being run in the 6th Form. We aim to create a truly student-lead DofE Centre with our ‘Gold Team’ of students taking a real lead and, with support, being responsible for everything; from planning and organizing expeditions, to recruiting and training Bronze Participants. The DofE Gold Award consists of five sections: Volunteering, Skills, Physical, Expedition and Residential. The Award requires participants to maintain their commitment to various activities over an extended period and will take around 18 months to complete. Hence starting in September of Year 12, students should finish their award during the summer of Year 13 and will complete expeditions at this stage.
Students will be given support and guidance throughout their award and will also be providing support and guidance to others. They will be expected to find their own activities to complete for the Skills, Residential and Physical sections. The Expedition section, consisting of two four-day Expeditions, will be organized by participants and (we hope) they will be running the DofE for other students as part of their Volunteering section; this will include everything from delivering training on meal planning to budgeting and buying kit.
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Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Getting involved in the Gold Duke of Edinburgh's award was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences that I have got engaged with as a Sixth Former; it has opened up so many doors for opportunities that I never thought were there and has given me the confidence to take part in activities which I previously would have opted out of.