The Duke of Edinburgh Award at St Andrew's Academy
Taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award enables our students to develop skills that will help prepare them for life and work beyond St Andrew's Academy.
Offered at Bronze and Silver, each level provides a marvellous opportunity for our young people to gain skills for work and life, as well as improving their physical fitness and take on new challenges. Pupils also volunteer their time to support the wider community and test their determination and resilience on overnight expeditions.
Pupils are taught survival skills, responsible behaviour in the natural environment, and navigation and route planning, as well as logistical and organisational skills.
Duke of Edinburgh - Bronze Award
We offer the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award to our year 10 and 11 students. The award is designed to challenge both their physical abilities and also their independent skills. Throughout the year the Bronze level students have weekly sessions to gain the experience required to complete all sections of the award.
There are 4 sections that the students have to complete in order to pass the award, these are;
- Physical
- Skills
- Volunteering
- Expedition
All of the bronze award is carried out in school including volunteering, with two sections lasting 3 months and one section lasting 6 months.
Physical – Students take part in PE sessions and new skills that are designed to develop their stamina and fitness.
Skills – Each student learns a new skill or strengthens an already existing skill.
Volunteering – We keep the volunteering in house and the students learn about the environment and why it’s important that they look after the school grounds and the surrounding environments.
Expedition – Students spend some time each week preparing for the expedition. This means they develop map skills, work on their fitness, walking lots of miles, walking in different areas on different terrains, exploring new places, carrying weight on their backs etc.
In order to complete their award, the students must complete a two-day, one night camping trip. We run a practice expedition, in school initially, to ensure we can safely meet the needs of all our students, a practice expedition out in the community and a final expedition further afield meaning our students get plenty of opportunity to develop and practice the skills we have been working on. Whilst on their expedition the students have to complete a walk throughout both days. We offer two separate walks, one which is fully accessible, flat and slightly shorter and one which is a little more physically challenging. The students complete their walk and then set up camp, this includes:
- Pitching their tents
- Cooking on trangias
- Making their beds
- Following route cards
- Looking after their personal belongings
- Budgeting and buying snacks and food they will need for the expedition
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award Gallery
Duke of Edinburgh - Silver Award
The Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award is the next level challenge for our students. The silver award is designed to extend each student's knowledge about the great outdoors and also develop new and existing skills along the way. The silver award is an extension of the bronze award.
There are 4 sections that the students have to complete in order to pass the award, these are;
- Physical
- Skills
- Volunteering
- Expedition
The students have to undertake a physical challenge, learn a new skill and complete their volunteering over a 6-month period.
Physical – During the silver award the students get the chance to develop their swimming and water safety skills at the Victoria Leisure Centre.
Skills – To complete the skills section of this award the students must learn a brand-new recipe and make this with support. By the end of the 6 months the students will make their chosen food as independently as possible, and we will run an enterprise where students can provide meals for staff in school. We will be offering lunches and takeaway Fridays!
Volunteering – For the volunteering section each student goes off-site and volunteers in local facilities. This year our students will be volunteering at Liversage Court Care home and at Plot to Plate.
Expedition – For the expedition the students undertake a longer trip than their bronze award. The camping trip is 3 days and 2 nights and they must complete this twice, a practice and the final expedition. They are also encouraged to be more independent with the walk and work together as a team to follow route cards and maps.
We have an annual presentation evening where the Duke of Edinburgh Award is celebrated.
All students who have completed the award are invited with their families and staff from school to attend an evening of celebration. The students are in charge of planning the evening- from drinks reception to food to decorations!
Throughout the evening we display photos of the bronze and silver awards and this highlights to the families what their child has achieved. Celebration of our students is key part of our learning experience and it allows us to show off how proud we are of our students!
Useful Links
https://www.dofe.org/do/parents/
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