Chiltern Hills Academy is proud to offer its pupils the opportunity to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) at school. DofE is an opportunity for nature loving pupils to work towards personal goals as well as explore The Chilterns with their friends. Students can begin working towards the various levels of DofE from Year 9 up until they complete their A Levels.

Further information

Students participating in the DofE program will be carrying out four tasks over the academic year. The first three tasks are the pupil’s choice as long as they fall under DofE’s three categories. These are physical, volunteering, and skill. The fourth task is the school organized training expedition and qualifying expedition.

Participation

While the DofE program itself is largely independent we offer some advantages to pupils through our DofE club. Some of the benefits include; weekly meetings, guidance and coaching from A level DofE students, in school leadership opportunities, and school organized expeditions.

The DofE program has three different levels;

• Bronze. This level is a taster for year 9 students. It requires three months of commitment for the pupil’s physical, volunteering, and skill activities. Students will attend an in school training day. Finally, they will partake in a two day, one night practice and qualifying expeditions.
• Silver. This level is for year 10 students. It can be undertaken without previously achieving a Bronze award. Students will undergo six months of their physical, volunteering, and skill sections. For their expeditions they will be going on three day, two night expeditions.
• Gold. This is the most intensive DofE level. Students must be 17 to start their gold. It requires 12 months of their physical, volunteering, and skills work. Students will go on two training expeditions before attempting the residential which is DofE’s ultimate challenge. During the residential students will undertake a five day, four night expedition in wild country.

Cost

The cost for DofE includes a small fee for registering the student with the DofE program (£20) and payment for their DofE welcome pack (£23). The remainder of the money goes to paying the company, OceanRock Adventure. OceanRock is a company that runs our expeditions and supplies kit such as tents and stoves.

The additional cost to the £43 explained above for a student to complete their Bronze award is £155; for a student completing their Silver award it is £242.

Contacts

Mr S Driscoll  Duke of Edinburgh Lead