The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is the world’s leading youth achievement award and is a globally recognised Award. The benefits of achieving a DofE Award at any level are endless. It encourages young people to push themselves to do new things, grow in confidence and develop new skills. The DofE Award is highly valued and respected by both employers and further or higher education establishments.
More information about the DofE can be found at www.dofe.org.
William Brookes School is a Directly Licenced DofE centre. We offer Bronze Award to year 9 students and Silver Award to year 10 students.
What is involved?
Young people do DofE programmes at one of three progressive levels. When successfully completed, this leads to a Bronze or Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. In completing their Award, students will undertake four sections as part of their own personal and unique journey. These are Physical, Skills, Volunteering & Expedition.
Lists of ideas for each section can be found in this document. A more detailed explanation of what is suitable for the volunteering section is here.
How to register to start a DofE Award
Registrations happen in September each year. Emails will be sent explaining how students can register. Currently (2024-2025), the cost of registration is as follows:
- Bronze = £48
- Silver = £45
This is the cost of the DofE participation place + a contribution towards school’s licence fee.
eDofE
Once registered, participants receive an eDofE account where they set their activities, record evidence and submit programmes for approval at any time.
Participants can access their eDofE account via the DofE App. The DofE App is currently available for participants to download on Android and iOS. They can download the App by going to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and searching ‘The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award’.
This video shows you how to use the eDofE App.
Welcome pack
Once a participant has activated their eDofE account, they will be sent a Welcome pack to their home address in the post. This contains:
- Information for participants
- Information for parents and carers
- Participant’s DofE Card
- Assessors’ cards
- A guide to choosing expedition kit
The DofE Card allows access to a variety of discounts, including 10% off at Go Outdoor, Blacks and Millets Participants – The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) Shopping.
If a participant loses their Welcome pack, the content can be downloaded here Digital copies of the Welcome Packs – The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (dofe.org).
To complete a section, the correct amount of time from the entered start date must have passed, and there must be report written by an assessor which is uploaded to the participants eDofE account.
An Assessor checks on participants progress and agrees the completion of a section of their programme. They must be independent and over the age of 18. Therefore, they cannot be a family member. An Assessor can be anyone who is interested in helping the participant to achieve, has some knowledge of the activity they are doing and can be available over the time they are doing it. They will produce or sign off the relevant Assessor’s report for that section, which is uploaded into eDofE. From the local football club coach to a charity shop manager, from the neighbour who’s a web designer to the conservation expert leading a residential week, just about anyone can be an Assessor for the Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Residential sections.
Please see this guidance regarding assessors Choosing Assessors – The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (dofe.org).
Assessor reports can be completed either on the Assessor report card in the participants Welcome pack or online at done at www.dofe.org/assessor (the participant will need to give their assessor their ID number for this).
If you are an section assessor, guidance on writing assessor reports is here Writing-Assessor_Reports_-GENERIC.pdf (dofe.org)
In order for each participant to complete the expedition section of their DofE Award, they must meet the DofE Expedition Aims and Requirements, details of which can be found here.
We offer the opportunity for Bronze and Silver participants to complete their expedition section with school. The school run expedition section is completed under the supervision and guidance of an Approved Activity Provider (AAP), who ensure that the expedition meets the requirements of the award.
Currently (2023-2024), the cost of completing the expedition section with school is as follows:
- Bronze = £185 for 3 days training and a 2 day/1-night qualifying expedition.
- Silver = £285 for 2 days training, a 2 day/2night practice expedition and 3 day/2 night qualifying expedition.
Further information about how to sign up to complete the expedition section with school is distributed in November each year.
We do not currently offer an opportunity for Gold participants to complete their expedition section with school but instead support them to find a suitable Open Expedition section opportunity with an AAP.
This is an example expedition Kit list.
If your child is unable to attend the school organised expeditions, then they can join an open expedition run by an Approved Activity Provider (AAP). These can be found by searching DOFE opportunity finder .
If required, participants may be able to access funding support for the expedition from one of the following:
- Pupil premium funding (if applicable).
- THE J L Edwards Memorial Trust.
- The Cam and Bear Fund for Adventure.
- The Alpkit Foundation.
Support with expedition kit may be provided by Kit Squad.
For any further information regarding The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at William Brookes School, please contact the DofE Manager at school.
