Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

What is the DofE?

·         A life-changing experience.

·         A fun time with friends.

·         An opportunity to discover new interests and talents.

·         A tool to develop essential skills for life and work.

·         A recognised mark of achievement; respected by employers.

The DofE is many things to many people, supporting generations to successfully navigate adult life.

At Fairfield we offer the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award to Year 9s.

There are four sections to complete at Bronze level. They involve Volunteering (helping the community/environment) , Physical (becoming fitter), Skill (developing new skills), Expedition (planning, training for and completing an expedition).

Any young person can do their DofE – regardless of ability, gender, background or location. Achieving an Award isn’t a competition or about being first. It’s 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. Top employers recognise the work-ready skills Award holders bring to their business.

DofE at Fairfield

Students enrol for the award at the end of the Term 2 / beginning of Term 3 at which point they make a start on their Volunteering, Physical and Skill activity choices. They need to commit to an hour a week participation for each of these activities – 2 sections for 3 months and 1 section for 6 months.

Many students are already involved in extra-curricular activities which can often count for their DofE sections – they just need to check with Mr Giggle that they meet the DofE criteria before starting. So for example, if your child already plays a sport each week outside of school, this can be their DofE Physical activity. Activity choices range from playing an instrument, cooking, sports clubs, acting, to volunteering at varying organisations, cleaning the local environment and photography. We are happy to help advise students on their activity choices – many Fairfield clubs can be used as part of the award and some teachers are willing to be assessors for students– so there does not necessarily need to be any extra cost involved. The DofE really supports the idea of both widening young peoples horizons but also gaining them credit for activities that they are already participating in.

Expeditions

One of the most well known parts of the DofE award is the expedition. Students take part in a two day expedition in the local area during the summer term. Students are largely self sufficient with staff remotely supervising. This is an excellent opportunity for students to challenge themselves and really grow as individuals. Advice and guidance will be given to all students so they do not need to have had previous camping experience. We have limited amount of  equipment, such as tents and Trangia’s which can be borrowed, but we do endeavour to give every student the chance to take part if they wish.

Letters

Year 11 DofE January update 2022

Who to contact if you are interested:

DofE Manager: Mrs Hart Phart@gvsc.org.uk

DofE Leader: Mr Giggle  Cgiggle@gvsc.org.uk

eDofE: https://edofe.org/