Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh Award programme is designed to help equip young people with the skills to succeed in life: it enriches the lives of all those taking part by developing the mind, body and soul in an environment of social interaction and team working.

King’s is one of the largest Directly Licensed DofE Centres in the country. Increasing numbers of King’s pupils are undertaking the awards as a way of enriching their CVs and university application forms, as well as gaining a huge range of experiences and life skills, whilst having fun and making a contribution to their wider community.

Each year, around 20 of our students achieve Gold, 50-60 achieve Silver and around 100 -120 achieve Bronze Awards.

Our achievements!

Over the last 5 years, more than 1,200 awards have been started by King’s pupils and they have clocked up in excess of 21,000 hours of voluntary work helping other people, the community, the environment, charities, animals or coaching and teaching. They have also learnt an array of skills including cooking, astronomy, keeping livestock, photography, first aid, car mechanics and many more.

In 2014, King’s Headmaster was invited to St James’ palace and presented with a certificate in recognition that King’s was the first DofE Centre in the country to achieve 100 award completions in one year.

Timescales

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.
Volunteering section: 12 months
Physical and Skills sections: One section for 12 months and the other section for 6 months
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.

e-DofE Login

Bronze Expedition

Silver Expedition

Gold Expedition

The DofE awards are hard-earned and demand dedication, determination and a strong social conscience. They are also masses of fun and hugely inspiring for young people. The scheme complements perfectly life at King’s and supports our aims to challenge our pupils to aspire, work hard and achieve great things and raise ambitious, confident and well-rounded individuals who play a full role in the wider community.”

Paul Bartle, in charge of the DofE Scheme at King'S

Annual Volunteering Fair

We run an annual volunteering fair in November for all of our lower sixth students plus pupils from Year 10 and 11 who are interested in volunteering opportunities with local charities and organisations. For more information please email: mail@kingsmac.co.uk.

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