Duke of Edinburgh Award

At Bristol Brunel Academy we all make exceptional things happen today, tomorrow and in the years to come. We all make exceptional things happen every day. Having the opportunity to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh award is one of those ways we make exceptional things happen. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a fantastic way to develop high quality character traits such as Self-efficacy, Self-esteem, Resilience, Healthy body and mind. This fits in with our school values of filling up the BBA backpack of qualifications and skills for the future.

We offer the Bronze and Silver awards to students in years 9 and 10 respectively.

What is the DofE Award Scheme?

The DofE Award is an internationally recognised award for young people, designed to encourage them to develop independence, commitment, leadership, and teamwork through being involved in a personalised programme of activities. The award has also been voted by the United Learning Trust, a consortium of major employers, as the extracurricular award that they see as most important for potential applicants to achieve at school.

Any young person can do their DofE – regardless of ability, gender, race or background. Achieving an award is not a competition or about being first. It is all about setting personal challenges and pushing personal boundaries.

Through a DofE programme, young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem, and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, problem-solving, team-working, communication, and drive, enhancing CVs and university and job applications.

The DofE Bronze Award Sections

The award requires those taking part to complete 4 sections:

Skill (learning a skill at least once a week)

Physical (participating in a physical activity at least once a week)

Volunteering (being involved in an activity that benefits others once a week)

Expedition (complete training after school and assessed 2-day hike with an overnight camp)

Volunteering, Skill, and Physical Sections

The Skill, Physical and Volunteering sections should be completed once a week, for roughly an hour per section.

At Bronze award level, two of these three sections are to be completed over a period of three months with the other over six months.

Bronze award is done in year 9.

The DofE Silver Award Sections

The award requires those taking part to complete 4 sections:

Skill (learning a skill at least once a week)

Physical (participating in a physical activity at least once a week)

Volunteering (being involved in an activity that benefits others once a week)

Expedition (complete training after school, a practice expedition of 2-day hike with 2-day overnight camp and assessed 3-day hike with a 2- day overnight camp)

Volunteering, Skill, and Physical Sections

The Skill, Physical and Volunteering sections should be completed once a week, for roughly an hour per section.

At Silver award level, two of these sections are to be completed over a period of six months (one of these must be the volunteering section) and the other over three months.

Silver award is done in year 10.

There is a wealth of information and activity suggestions available on the DofE website.

DofE website

Expedition Section

The expedition section requires participants to undertake an assessed 2-day-1-night (Bronze level) or a 3-day-2-night (Silver level) backpacking and camping expedition. Before the assessed expedition, participants need to be trained and will take part in a practice walks or expedition beforehand. Suitable training must be completed before they will be allowed to take part in their qualifying expedition. This training is done after school once a week. To be allowed on the expedition participants will be expected to have logged evidence and assessor reports of the Volunteering, Skill, and Physical Sections on their eDofE accounts. Attendance to the sessions after school is key. They can not do an expedition without the full training.

If you have any questions regarding the DofE award, please email our DofE manager, Miss Bethan Jackson [email protected] and she will get back to you as soon as possible.

We look forward to guiding your child through this exciting new challenge.