Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh Award
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is an internationally recognised programme of personal development activities for young people aged 14 – 25.
Why do the DofE?
For the hundreds of thousands of young people who take part each year, the benefits of achieving a DofE Award at any level are endless. DofE is about helping you along the path to a productive and prosperous future. As many of our participants say, it’s life-changing. Achieving an Award will give you skills, confidence and an edge over others when you apply for college, university or a job. Beyond your academic achievements, universities 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. You’ll also make a difference to other people’s lives and your community, be fitter and healthier, make new friends and have memories to last you a lifetime.
Ashlyns School was one of the first to run the award when it was introduced by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956. Prince Philip visited the school in 1959 to present the award (photographs are available to view in the school Reception).
Hear about other young people’s DofE experiences and find out why top employers look out for Award holders when recruiting. See more about the DofE here: The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award: Home
At Ashlyns, the programme starts with the Bronze Award. Those who successfully complete the Bronze Award can progress to Silver and then Gold Award. We encourage those students who have demonstrated a good attitude to learning and behaviour to take part. The scheme requires a high level of commitment and students must be willing to put in at least an hour a week of extra-curricular activities.
The Bronze and Silver Awards consist of 4 components:
- 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
The Gold award includes all of these plus a residential section.
The skills, physical and volunteering sections are arranged and carried out by students individually and the DofE website is full of ideas for activities that would be suitable: Resources and Tools.
The training and Expedition side of the award is run by Ashlyns School and involves a significant amount of training in navigation and camp-craft. Students are provided with a DofE pack and also a login to their eDofE account where they can manage and submit their achievements, working with the Ashlyns DofE Team.