Duke of edinburgh awards
DofE Co-Ordinator: Mrs Nikki Murray nikki.murray@queenkatherine.org
DofE Expedition Co-Ordinator: Mr Tim Deighton tim.deighton@queenkatherine.org
DofE at QKS
A record-breaking 200 students are currently completing DofE Awards at our school.
QKS has a long history of success running the nationally recognised achievement award – offering all 3 levels of the DofE award scheme Bronze, Silver and Gold. Since 2017 the opportunity to do the Bronze award has been open to every student in Year 9 as part of our ‘whole child’ curriculum. Students can then go on to do Silver in Year 10 - with expeditions in Yorkshire and Gold in Year 12 - with a final expedition in Scotland. This year we have 34 Year 12 Gold students, the most we have ever had, which reflects how well the award is being received by our young people.
Achievement and success are not limited to academic qualifications; we want our students to take on responsibility; try new things; challenge themselves; dig deep and show resilience to stick at things; work as a team; tackle problems with confidence and give something back to the community.
DofE in Year 9
We offer the Bronze award to all Year 9s.
Students enrol for the award in September at which point they make a start on their Volunteering, Physical and Skill activity choices. They need to commit to an hour a week participation for each of these activities – 2 sections for 3 months and 1 section for 6 months.
Many students are already involved in extra-curricular activities which can often count for their DofE sections – they just need to check with Mrs Murray that they meet the DofE criteria before starting. So for example, if your child already plays a sport each week outside of school, this can be their DofE Physical activity. Activity choices range from learning to be a beekeeper, dry stone walling, cooking, mountain biking, table tennis, acting, dance, to volunteering at QKS clubs, charity shops and animal rescue centres. We are happy to help advise students on their activity choices – many QKS clubs can be used as part of the award and some teachers ask for students to volunteer for their departments, for example helping with displays and recycling – so there does not necessarily need to be any extra cost involved.
In May of Year 9, DofE students will do a 2-day Practice expedition, then in July, they will do a 2-day Assessment expedition in the South Lakes. Advice and guidance will be given to all students so they do not need to have had previous camping experience. We have some equipment, such as tents and waterproofs, which can be borrowed. We would love as many Year 9 students as possible to enrol on the Award so that they can all share in the experience together.