Duke of Edinburgh Award letter

July 2023

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Dear Parent/Carer,

We are delighted to inform you that we will be offering the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Award to students, from September 2023.

The DofE is a great chance for your child to broaden their horizons, discover new interests and talents, have fun with friends, develop essential skills for their future and achieve an internationally renowned Award.

About DofE

DofE is non-competitive and open to all young people – it’s about setting personal challenges and pushing personal boundaries. There are three levels of DofE programme which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award.  At Biddenham we are launching the Bronze DofE award, 2023/24 and we will look to successfully move a cohort onto the next stage, Silver, once completed.

Through their DofE, students will make friends and memories and build traits like confidence, resilience and self-esteem, which can benefit mental health. They’ll gain skills and attributes for work and life, like problem-solving, team-working and self-motivation – and they’ll achieve an Award that’s recognised by top employers and can help them stand out when applying for university or jobs.

To achieve their Bronze Award, participants must complete four sections: Skills, Volunteering, Physical and their Expedition.  Activities for each section take a minimum of one hour a week over a set period of time, so they can fit around studying, hobbies and social lives.

Skills section

This takes approximately three months to complete and students are expected to broaden their understanding and increase their expertise in a chosen skill, this could be a skill they already have started to learn or something they have a passion for.

Volunteering section

This takes approximately three months to complete and students are expected to choose to give time to help people, the community or society, the environment or animals. Your volunteering must not be done for a business but can be undertaken for a charity or not-for-profit organisation

Physical section

This takes approximately three months to complete and students are expected to choose any sport, dance or fitness activity – in short, anything that requires a sustained level of energy and physical activity.

Expedition

Students will complete a practice and assessed expedition, which will be two days and one night of camping.  We will have an expedition kit available for students in school, so this should not be a barrier to students achieving this part of the award.

Every young person’s DofE programme is personal to them – they can choose what they’d like to do for their Skills, Volunteering and Physical sections. We will provide guidance and support, and students can either choose to continue an activity they already do or discover something completely new.

Cost
Initial registration is £25.50, but there will be additional costs for expeditions, which we will outline when we know our cohort numbers.

We will be holding an information evening for all interested students on 13th September at 6pm in the Main Hall.

Please email dofe@mybiddenham.com to confirm your interest and attendance to the information evening, so we can cater for the numbers attending.

Yours faithfully,

Miss E Roberts
emily.roberts@mybiddenham.com