Duke of Edinburgh Award
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at The Gregg School
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is made up of four sections – expedition, physical, skill and volunteering. In order to fulfil the requirements for the physical, skill and volunteering sections at Bronze level, students must complete a minimum of 3 months (or 12 weeks) activity adding up to a total of approximately 30 hours. In addition, students must complete a further 3 months (or 12 weeks) activity on one of their chosen programmes (physical / skill / volunteering).
There are many different a
ctivities which may be used to complete these different sections. Examples include:
Physical – team sports or individual sports, anything from rugby to swimming – individuals create a specific programme which is relevant to them.
Skill – cooking, music, art, drama, DIY – any activity involving learning something new and in which it is possible to show improvement.Volunteering – helping out at a beaver or brownie unit, buddy reading, spending some time working in a local charity shop – the main point of this section is that the individuals give time without receiving financial reward.
For further information and ideas as to how to go about designing a personalised programme for any section of the award, please visit the web-site: http://www.dofe.org/
In order to complete the fourth section, students are required to plan, train for and complete an expedition of 2 days and 1 night.
At The Gregg School, we offer an after school club to students in year 10 enabling them to develop and fulfil these requirements. There is a team of qualified expedition trainers, made up of staff members and other volunteers, who run the sessions as well as offering support and guidance with the other three sections of the award.
The club takes place on a Thursday from 4.00pm until 5.00pm and runs from February half term until October half term. Students must commit to attending all of the training sessions which cover the relevant skills to facilitate completion of their final expedition.
Before the summer holidays, members take part in two training weekends where they have the opportunity to practise what they have learned. These weekends also provide the students with an insight into what their final assessed expedition will be like at the end of September in year 11.
Examples of training sessions:
Camp craft – care and use of tents
Camp cooking – ready steady cook on a trangia
First Aid – theory and practical sessions
Map work – how to use grid references and bearings
Completion of route cards
Country Code
Ruck-sacks – what to bring & how to pack
