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Henley Bank High School

Henley Bank High School

Duke of Edinburgh

The aim of the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award Scheme is to empower young people; to support them as they learn new skills, overcome obstacles, and build confidence and resilience. Students will choose their own activities to complete the four sections of a DofE award: Volunteering, Physical, Skills, and Expedition. DofE can build on learning from timetabled lessons, but is for students to complete in their own time, e.g. at clubs or at home.

The Bronze DofE Award is offered to our Year 9 students and the Silver DofE Award to our Year 10 students. Both levels have the four sections outlined below.

  • Volunteering - Volunteering is simple. It’s about choosing to give time to help people, the community or society, the environment or animals. You need to choose to give time to do something useful without getting paid (apart from expenses) and you cannot volunteer for family or businesses.
  • Physical - For your physical activity you need to choose any sport, dance or fitness activity – in short, anything that requires a sustained level of energy and physical activity. For example, playing a sport regularly and showing personal improvement would count.
  • Skills - For your skills activity you need to choose an activity that will allow you to prove you have broadened your understanding and increased your expertise in your chosen skill. It should not be a physical activity, for example, horse riding, as this counts towards your Physical section, however, you could choose to learn about caring for horses.
  • Expedition - For your Expedition section, you will need to plan, train for and complete an unaccompanied, self-reliant expedition with an agreed aim in a group of 5-7 students. Your expedition must be completed by your own physical efforts with minimal external intervention and without motorised assistance. There will be a Practice Expedition and a Qualifying Expedition on separate weekends in the summer term.
Through DofE Awards, we work to bring the best out of young people so that they become more motivated, disciplined and balanced; qualities that employers, colleges and universities truly value.

For further information, please contact Mr Haseler