The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 2015 Oakgrove School

Principles of DofE  Non-competitive  Achievable by all  Voluntary  Personal development  Personalised  Balanced  Progressive  Achievement focused  Demand commitment  Enjoyable

Silver D of E  You need to be at-least 15 years old to start the Award  There are still 4 sections to the silver award – volunteering, physical, skills and Expedition  You need to do at least 6 months Volunteering and a minimum of 6 months on either Physical or Skills and 3 months on the other. It’s up to you which one you do for longer.  If you did Bronze, you can choose the same activity for Silver, but you need to show development in it. It's best to try something new!

Silver D of E – Direct Entry  If you start your Silver without doing Bronze first:  Need to do an extra 6 months volunteering or doing whichever of the Physical or Skills sections you have spent more time on.  So therefore doing your longer section for 12 months instead of 6.  For both the direct entrant and those who have already completed bronze – the expedition is 3 days walking and 2 nights camping.

The Award. The award is still made up of 4 sections; Volunteering– 6 months work, and at least 1 hr per week, of supporting or helping an individual or group e.g helping neighbours, charity work, guides/scouts, school support

Skills – 3/6months work, and at least 1 hr per week of developing either an existing skill or learning a completely new skill. This can be in school i.e music, art, drama, collections

Physical recreation – 3/6 months, should be conducted out of school hours, and extra curricular can be included in this. This is an activity that is going to help improve your fitness.

Evidence…..

PHOTOGRAPHS Photos are often the easiest evidence to submit. However you will need to submit a variety of photos for each section

WRITTEN ACCOUNTS Keeping a personal log of what activities you have carried out on a regular basis is fantastic evidence, and very easy to upload. A reflective summary of your activities is also a good way of reinforcing your evidence sections.

Dates Ask your activity supervisor to sign next to your date that you did the activity This is should not be a family member, but a qualified coach/supervisor.

“HOW MUCH EVIDENCE DO I NEED?” At least 1 photo, 1 log and 1 statement for each month that you carry out your award. The expedition should have your own log of the events and a good selection of photos.

Expedition…..

In order to support the students through this, A-Z are still helping us deliver the best quality expeditions. All of the necessary skills will be taught and expanded on in preparation for the expedition on this course.

The Expedition –  This comprises of two parts, The practice The Assessed

The Practice. Pre-expedition training – School In June to be announced Practice Expedition – Peak District (location to be decided) Fri 1st – Sun 3rd July 2016

 Students will need all equipment from the kit list and are invited to bring their own tents and cooking stoves if you wish.  It is strongly recommended that all participants have their own walking boots.

 Prepared for all weather conditions  Team effort in groups of 4-7  Expectations

The Expedition - Assessed  Qualifying Expedition – Peak District (location to be decided)  Fri 22nd – Sun 24th July2016

One last thing....

Limited places  As we will need to transport you up to the Peak District in the mini buses there are limited places  Priority will be given to those who have already completed their bronze expedition.  However if there are still places left, those who wish to be a direct entrant for silver, it may be possible to take part in our scheme this year.

Enrolment Payment Deadline  There is an enrolment cost of £30. This should be paid by the 21 st October 2015 This includes: £17 for your silver Duke of Edinburgh place, An admin charge of £5 An £8 fuel charge for when the Mini Buses are used. The certificate to be issued at the end of the programme.  For the expedition, the total cost for the whole programme of training and expeditions is £350 - per person. For those wishing to be a direct entrant this cost could be slightly higher due to possible extra training  To reserve your place on the expeditions with A to Z, we require a £50 deposit to be paid to the school before Wednesday 11th December 2015  Remaining balance to be paid to the school by Friday 15 th April 2016.