Going for GOLD

You are applying to be granted a very significant award – recognised globally.

The State Office take their job seriously – and uphold the integrity of The Award.

Having a Gold Award rejected is a very time consuming and annoying.

Please - try and get it right the first time - by using the checklist!

Your Award must be finalised with us before the end of week 5 in Term 3 for any inclusion on school records / speech night program.

Your Award must be with the State office before 30 September (typically) for inclusion in ATAR schemes.

Some common problems - all easily avoided- include:

Minimum Age and Start Dates – no activities for Gold can be counted prior to your 16^th birthday or before you completed Silver. Check start dates very carefully - does anything overlap???

Assessors – must not be parents or relatives

Activity logs – must be suitably detailed

Adventurous Journey Logs – Are you using the correct scaffold? Email your draft to dawesy in word format for review. He will then upload your approved report direct to your IORB

For Gold signoff the IORB requires a detailed file name like: dawes g qualifying journey report.docx so please get this right when you send it to dawesy:)

Your reports need to be significant and detailed. Use the scaffolds below.

Driving as a Skill – Learning to drive up until you get your P's - ***heads up here - Learning to drive counts. Driving around on your P's does not meet the requirements :). Once you have your P's - you need to list another skill. You no longer need to undertake an additional related course as well as attaining your Provisional licence. Upload a copy of your licence.

Appropriate choice of Skill activities – A skill is non-physical!

Service section – well written goal - does not read like a skill. serving a genuine cause. no family members.

Residential Project reports – Your reports need to clarify the aims of your project. A purposeful live in experience with people who are not your usual companions. The report also needs to be significant and includes your objective, some evidence / photos, and your reflections on the experience

The GOLD Award checklist – (download below -all 6 pages of it) – is designed to help. Download & print a copy and then self assess before making a time to meet with Mrs Jellis or Mr Wong to complete your final sign off.

From the State office to all Award leaders...

Gold Sign-Off - Helping us to Help you

Under the terms of our National licencing agreement, all Gold Awards need to be reviewed by our office. However, only 40% of Gold Awards submitted are approved on first attempt. 27% are rejected and 33% require further follow-up. This has a significant impact on the overall processing time for sign-offs, particularly at this time of year when all participants are looking to submit their Gold Award details with their tertiary education applications. Based on volume, the initial review period can take about six weeks; if not approved, the re-submission goes back in the queue. While we continually review internal processes to manage the annual Gold Award submissions, there are resources and tips that we have developed to help participants ensure their submission has the best chance of approval on first attempt submission. These include the NSW Award checklists and top five reasons for rejection.

Please also note the issue with Residential project identified ion the Resi page.

UNSW

MQ