The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at The Herewoode Academy
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a life changing experience. It is an opportunity to discover new interests and talents. It is a tool to develop essential skills for like and work. It is an internationally recognised mark of achievement; respected by colleges, sixth forms and employers.
The Herewoode Academy is a fully licensed organisation. We currently offer the DofE programme at Bronze level that pupils can choose to complete in Year 9 and 10. There are four sections to complete at Bronze level. They involve helping the community or environment, becoming fitter, developing new skills, planning, training for and completing an expedition. Once you have completed your Bronze Award, you can advance on to completing your Silver or even Gold Award. Pupils often complete these at college, sixth form, university or during their apprenticeship.
Any young person can do their DofE regardless of ability, gender, background or location. Achieving an Award isn’t a competition but rather about setting personal challenges and pushing personal boundaries.
Achieving your Bronze DofE award will give you skills, confidence and an edge over others when you apply for college, university or a job. Beyond your academic achievements, colleges, universities and employers want to see evidence of so called ‘soft skills’ that you have developed through extra-curricular activities such as communication commitment, leadership and teamwork. Your DofE Award is a fantastic way to demonstrate and evidence these skills in practice.
At Herewoode, your DofE Leader and DofE Manager will guide you through your 4 sections. You will need to commit to completing some sort of community work, some physical activity to improve fitness and take on a new skill. All of these you will need to keep evidence of so you can be verified. Once these sections have been completed, it is time to start planning for the expedition – 2 days hiking and 1 night camping!
You will be expected to attend weekly meetings where you will need to update your DofE Leader on the progress you are making towards your award. These sessions will also involve some training for your expedition such as map reading, route planning, navigation skills, first aid and campcraft.
The award can be completed in as little as 6 to 12 months. This image shows how you divide your time between the four sections.
To complete the award, it does require a small fee. The DofE charges £24 to enrol its participants. There is then an additional cost to parents to cover the cost of the expedition. This includes the purchase of walking boots, clothing, camping fees, fuel and transport costs. However, at Herewoode, we have an extensive collection of equipment that we lend to participants (tents, rucksacks, sleeping bags, stoves, roll mats etc.) and this keeps the down to an absolute minimum.
If you think you have the commitment and correct attitude to complete your Bronze DofE Award, then speak to the school’s DofE Manager, Mr Hepworth-Adcock.
You can find more information on the DofE Award via this webpage: https://www.dofe.org