Introduction to the Award
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award aims to provide young people between 14 and 25
years of age with an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding programme of personal
development, which is of the highest quality and the widest reach.
There are 3 separate awards - Bronze, Silver and Gold, each with different
minimum starting ages and periods of participation. At each level there are 4
Sections - Service, Skills, Physical Recreation and Expeditions as well as a 5th
section (Residential Project) for participants undertaking the Gold Award.
At the Ridgeway School, pupils will start their work at Bronze Level from
October of their Year 9, whether they are aged 14 or not. Pupils may start their
Silver Level when they have completed their Bronze Award, or if they are to
enter the Silver Level directly then this can be from their 15th birthday
onwards. This is usually occurs in their Year 10, finishing around July of their
Year 11. Pupils then do not start their Gold Award until September of their Year
12 even though by this time many are well over the required minimum age of 16 to
start this level of the scheme. This is because the advent of little tests at
the end of their Year 11 are perhaps not the most contusive to both the scheme
and their studies!
As well as being a fantastic way for pupils to make new friends, the Award
allows pupils to develop many skills including problem-solving, communication,
self-belief, self-discipline, team-building and responsibility (and it's fun
too!). It's also a recognised qualification that potential employers value and
respect to the extent that many see a D. of E. award as the deciding factor
between people of a certain age who will all have GCSE's and 'A' levels when it
comes to choosing potential employees or students to take part in courses in
further education. In fact, a recent poll of British industry has found that of
all the attributes they were most keen to see in potential employees was the
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Read the full (short) report here. Gaining an Award
is a matter of pride, giving participants a sense of achievement and the
confidence that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a balanced, non-competitive programme of
voluntary activities which encourages responsibility, self-reliance, personal
discovery and perseverance. However, although the Awards can be challenging, the
most important aspect is that everyone finds participation in the Scheme
enjoyable, exciting and satisfying.
Each level of the Award Scheme is designed for participants of different ages.
Pupils must be at least 14 before they can start the Bronze Award, 15 before
they can start Silver and 16 before they can participate at Gold Level.
However, this can cause problems. For example, a student in their Year 9 may not
be 14 until July in that year which may prevent them from taking part in the
scheme with their friends. A pupil could complete the Bronze Award when they are
14 and a half and then have to wait 6 months before they can continue with the
scheme at the next level.
This did cause many problems in the past, but recently, the Award has become
more flexible to allow these problems to be ironed out. As such, and pupil in
their Year 9 may take part in the scheme from the January of that year
regardless of whether they have reached their 14th birthday or not. They must
however be at least 14 and a half before they can complete the award.
If a pupil has completed the Bronze Level, they may start the Silver Level
directly to avoid an artificial delay even if they are not yet 15. However, as
at Bronze, the participant must be at least 15 and a half before they are
allowed to complete the award. Any pupil wanting to enter the Award scheme at
the Silver Level without having completed the Bronze Level must, however, be 15
to be able to do so.
At Gold Level, such are the rigours of this that there are no concessions. As
such, no pupil may start this Level until they are 16.
At the Ridgeway school, we normally start the Bronze Level of the Award for Year
9 pupils from the October of their Year 9, with the launch of the scheme taking
place in the previous June/July. They will normally complete the level around
Christmas of Year 10.
Pupils will participate at the Silver Level during their Year 10 and will normally
complete around Christmas of their Year 11.
The advent of GCSE's normally means that we only organise pupils participation
in the Award at Gold Level from the start of their Year 12, when all pupils will
be at least 16.
Nationally, everyone has until their 25th birthday to complete whatever level
they are at. The school has made a commitment to guide you through the award
until your 25th Birthday.