A life-changing experience. A fun time with friends. An opportunity to discover new interests and talents. A tool to develop essential skills for life and work. A recognized mark of achievement; respected by employers. The DofE is many things to many people, supporting generations to successfully navigate adult life.

13-24 year-olds can do a DofE programme at one of three progressive levels which, when successfully completed, leads to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

There are four sections to complete at Bronze and Silver level and five at Gold. They involve helping the community/environment, becoming fitter, developing new skills, planning, training for and completing an expedition and, for Gold only, working with a team on a residential activity.

The award consists of regularly engaging in activities from three areas, each 1 hour a week. The areas of DofE are physical activity, skill and voluntary service. 

For each activity, you set a certain goal that will motivate you and move you forward. In the end, you will complete an outdoor expedition in nature; the Adventurous Journey. You record your entire progress through the Duke of Edinburgh online record book.

When you need help, you have a leader available to advise you and there are monthly check in's for all participants as well as mandatory Adventurous Journey training sessions for new participants January to March. (see further details below)

Awards are bestowed once the online record book is complete for physical activity, skill and voluntary service sections as well as a successful Adventurous Journey is complete with you assigned team.

Achieving an Award will give you skills, confidence and an edge over others when you apply for college, university or a job. Beyond your academic achievements, universities want to see evidence of so called ‘soft skills’ that you have developed through extra-curricular activities, such as communication, commitment, leadership and teamwork. Your DofE Award is a fantastic way to demonstrate and evidence these skills in practice.

You’ll also make a difference to other people’s lives and your community, be fitter and healthier, make new friends and have memories to last you a lifetime.

BRONZE: It will usually take you at least 6 months to complete your Bronze programme.

– Volunteering section: 3 months

– Physical section: 3 months

– Skills section: 3 months

– Expedition section: 2 days/1 night

You also have to spend an extra three months on one of the Volunteering, Physical or Skills sections. It’s your choice which one and, though you can change your mind later, you should decide which section you want to do for longer at the beginning. Knowing how long you’re going to do it for will help you to choose your activity and set your goals for each section.

SILVER: It will take you at least 6 months for Silver if you’ve already achieved your Bronze, or 12 months if you’ve jumped straight into Silver.

– Volunteering section: 6 months

– Physical and Skills sections: One section for 6 months and the other section for 3 months

– Expedition section: 3 days/2 nights

If you didn’t do Bronze, you must undertake a further 6 months in either the Volunteering or the longer of the Physical or Skills sections.

GOLD: For Gold, you’ll need to do your programme for at least 12 months if you’ve achieved your Silver Award, or 18 months if you’ve started at Gold level without doing your Silver – even if you’ve done Bronze. The big difference at Gold is you’ll also do a Residential section – staying away from home for five days and four nights doing a shared activity with people you don’t know.

– Expedition section: 4 days/3 nights

– Residential section: Undertake a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights.

If you didn’t do Silver, you must undertake a further 6 months in either the Volunteering or the longer of the Physical or Skills sections.

We are using the ORB system (Online record book) for keeping track of the participants and you will use the system for managing your DOFE activities. You can use it as a mobile application or also via desktop web platform www.onlinerecordbook.org. All data is recorded and the systems are interconnected.

Check out this document for instructions about how to sign up to the ORB system. 

Season 1 & 2 - Meeting every 1st Monday of the month (12:15-12:45).

Season 2 - (from January) Completing Adventurous Journey mandatory training sessions on Tuesdays after school - 16:30 - 18.00. There might be some extra after school sessions closer to the date of the hikes!

1. Once you sign up through the US activities sign up link, we will put you on a mailing list and send you information about the program

2. You will need to register yourself into the Online Record System and pay the registration fee

3. Once paid, we will approve your registration and you can start setting up your goals in service, physical recreation and skills sections

4. We will assign a group you will be a part of for your adventurous journey

5. From January; you will regularly attend weekly meeting as we need to train you up for the adventurous journey and you will log your DOFE hours and reflections  weekly against for your goals for service, physical recreation and skills.