Duke of Edinburgh Award

Covid 19 – update

While schools remain closed, DofE expeditions must follow suit and be postponed until schools are reopened or until we are advised we can go ahead.  When we are able to, we will resume on dates currently set, unless we contact you to say otherwise. This means that you should keep all dates in your diaries at this stage. Information will only be sent out when we know events will go ahead. We would like to reassure you that any events postponed will be rescheduled as soon as possible so that we can support participants through their expeditions to complete their DofE Awards.

An email was sent by Activ Adventures on March 19th. Please ensure that you are receiving these updates and that they are not going to your ‘spam’. Should you not be receiving them, please contact Activ directly, they are remote working at present.  

Harrodian is proud to have a thriving DoE award programme at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. Taking part in the award is a great way for pupils to:

• have their extra-curricular activities recognised and awarded 
• build their skills of leadership and responsibility 
• enjoy experiences and friendships that will stay with them for the rest of their lives 
• achieve a nationally (and internationally) recognised qualification that adds enormously to prefect, college, university and job applications 

The Bronze award is offered to 13s and the Silver to 14s. Both awards have 4 sections: Volunteering, Skills, Physical and Expedition. Gold is completed during Sixth Form, where the award has the additional ‘Residential’ section.

Expeditions

A chance for pupils to prove themselves in the outdoors, expeditions are one of the highlights of the DofE programme. In 2018, pupils hiked and camped in the North Downs, the New Forest, East Sussex, the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia.

In addition, over the past two years, some of our Silver pupils have chosen to canoe rather than hike their expeditions! We are offering this option again in 2019-20.

Our Approved Activity Provider is Activ Adventures and they provide high quality training and expedition supervision. For information on expeditions, including kit requirements and food, please visit Activ Adventures.

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Follow the links below to see photos of recent training sessions and expeditions

Click for 2016-2017 gallery

Click for 2017-2018 gallery

Click for 2018-2019 gallery

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Volunteering, skills and physical sections

Finding an appropriate activity and completing it in the chosen time is an essential requirement.

In many ways, the sections are straightforward. For example, a student may take guitar lessons (skill), play extra-curricular football (physical) and volunteer on a Saturday morning for a local charity shop (volunteering). However, pupils can sometimes struggle to find an activity that works. It is therefore important that pupils are aware of the requirements of the DofE award before signing up and seek support with choosing their activities.

For comprehensive guidance on the various sections, the best source of information is the DofE website http://www.dofe.org/

Please note that whilst there are many volunteering opportunities available at the Harrodian, these are inevitably limited. We cannot guarantee a volunteering place for every DofE participant.

Support for DofE at Harrodian

Mr Holder is the school’s DofE coordinator. He runs weekly support sessions on Tuesday lunchtimes in the ICT suite, as well as organising in-school training sessions and communication with pupils through assemblies and so on.

Mr Davies will be the school’s DofE Leader in 2019-20. He will be running a weekly support session on Thursday lunchtimes and is an additional point of contact for pupils who require support with their activity choices and DofE portfolios.

 Signing up for DofE

Information letters and enrolment forms will be handed out to pupils near the start of the academic year.

DofE dates 2019-20

All dates below are mandatory to complete the Award

Bronze

Dates	Activity
Thursday 7th November 2019	Introduction to DofE. In school (16:05 to 17:00)
Saturday 29th February	Training Day. In school (9:00-16:30)
Saturday 16th - Sunday 17th May	Training Expedition. 2-day residential. Surrey Hills.
Monday 22nd June	Route planning & kit drop for qualifying (16:00-18:00)
Saturday 27th - Sunday 28th June	Qualifying Expedition. 2-day residential expedition. Surrey Hills.

 

Silver

Walking		Canoeing
Date	Activity		Date	Activity
Thursday November 7th 2019	Training evening, in school, only for Direct Entrants*		Thursday November 7th 2019	Training evening, in school, only for Direct Entrants*
Saturday 29th February 2020, in school	Expedition training, 9:00-16:30 for DIRECT* participants, 9:00 to 13:30 for all others		Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April, Surrey	Canoeing training, two full days, non-residential
Friday 15th to Sunday 17th May 2019	Practice expedition, all entrants		Friday 15th to Sunday 17th May 2019	Practice expedition, all entrants
Tuesday 9th June, 4:05pm to 6pm	Route planning and kit drop		Tuesday 9th June, 4:05pm to 6pm	Route planning and kit drop
Saturday 20th June to Monday 22nd June	Qualifying expedition, all entrants		Saturday 20th June to Monday 22nd June	Qualifying expedition, all entrants

*Direct Entrants are those who have not completed Bronze

Gold

Dates	Activity
Thursday November 7th 2019	Training evening, in school, only for Direct Entrants*
Saturday 29th February 2020, in school	Expedition training, 9:00-16:30 for DIRECT* participants, 9:00 to 13:30 for all others
Thursday 26th March 2020, 5pm to 5:15pm, Gold (Lower 6th)	Kit drop and briefing
14th to 19th April 2020 (during Easter holiday)	Practice expedition
Tuesday 16th June 2020, 4pm to 6pm	Route planning and kit drop
Wednesday 1st to Sunday 6th July 2020 (students  are in school until 11:30am on Wednesday)	Qualifying expedition

*Direct Entrants are those who have not completed a previous level, either Bronze or Silver