Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a non-competitive, internationally recognised program designed to encourage young people to develop positive skills and to try new challenges. It is open to all students. The minimum age to start the program is 14 and at Sandringham, commences in Year 9.
You can follow programmes at three levels:
- Bronze (aged 14+)
- Silver (aged 15+)
- Gold (aged 16+)
What you have to do?
You achieve an Award by completing a personal programme of activities in four sections:
Volunteering: undertaking service to individuals or the community or for a non-profit making organisation.
Physical: improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities.
Skills: developing practical and social skills and personal interests (not physical skills).
Expedition: planning, training for and completion of an adventurous journey in the UK or abroad.
At Gold level, you must do an additional Residential section, which involves working and staying away from home doing a shared activity.
Bronze
We enrol in April of Year 9 to allow students to start their activities over the summer holidays.
Time scales
| Volunteering | Physical | Skills | Expedition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | 3 months | 3 months | Plan, train for, practise and complete a 2 day, I night expedition |
| All participants must complete a further 3 months in one of these sections. | All participants must complete a further 3 months in one of these sections. | All participants must complete a further 3 months in one of these sections. | This activity is organised through school.
The expedition training takes place over the course of Year 10 and the expeditions take place in the Summer term in the Chilterns area. |
Silver
We enrol at Silver at the beginning of Year 11.
Time scales
| Volunteering | Physical | Skills | Expedition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months | 3 months | 3 months | Plan, train for, practise and complete a 3 day, 2 night expedition |
| . | All participants must complete a further 3 months in either Physical or Skills. | All participants must complete a further 3 months in either Physical or Skills. | This activity is organised through school.
The expedition training takes place over the course of Year 11 and the expeditions take place in the Autumn and Summer term in the South Downs and the Peak District. |
Gold
We enrol at Gold at the beginning of Year 12.
Time scales
| Volunteering | Physical | Skills | Expedition | Residential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months | 12 months / 6 Months | 12 months / 6 Months | 4 days, 3 nights- 80 kms (50 miles) in WILD COUNTRY
Expedition training (Peak District) Gold Practice (Brecon Beacons) Gold Qualifying (Lake District) | Staying away from home for five days and four nights doing a shared activity with people you don’t know. |
How to complete your Award: Helpful Hints
- The easiest way to complete an assessor report is online. Your assessor needs you eDofE ID number (on your eDofE account). They need to go to www.edofe.org/assessor They will be asked to input your ID number, the level (Bronze/Silver/Gold) and the section (volunteering/physical/skill/expedition/residential (Gold only)). They can then view your programme planner and submit their report.
Alternatively you can ask them to fill in the appropriate page in your booklet and then either scan or take a photo of the page and upload it to your eDofE account. - You must have either a phone number or email address for your assessor and their full name. They do not need to have a qualification (although this helps) but they do need experience. So where it says “position/qualification”, make sure you write something relevant.
- Remember your assessor cannot be a member of your family.
- In your D of E pack, there are cards for each section of the Award which you can give to your assessor which explains what they need to write in their report and how they can submit the report. The Little Book of D of E has lots of useful information so read through it.
- There is a D of E surgery in the Learning Resource Centre every Thursday lunchtime from 1.30pm.
- Further information is available on the D of E website and there are some useful clips on YouTube which explain how to upload evidence.
