Duke of Edinburgh Awards

DofE Award Scheme at OSA

“For the hundreds of thousands of young people who take part each year, the benefits of achieving a DofE Award at any level are endless. DofE is about helping you along the path to a productive and prosperous future. As many of our participants say, it’s life-changing.

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

Students also make a difference to other people’s lives and their community, be fitter and healthier, make new friends and have memories to last them a lifetime.”

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

Bronze programme at OSA

At OSA we are committed to providing students with this opportunity and we have already been successfully running the bronze programme. We hope to be able to offer the silver award to year 10 students from September 2024.

How old do I need to be?

  • Bronze Award – for those aged 14+ years (Year 9 upwards)
  • Silver Award – for those aged 15+ years (Year 10 upwards) who have already attained their Bronze Award

If you aren’t yet the required age, but are in the school year in which your peer group all reach that age milestone, you may still be able to start a DofE programme – please speak to us.

What’s involved?

It will usually take students at least 6 months to complete their Bronze programme.

Volunteering section: 3 months

For example, this could include:

  • litter picking
  • running a club
  • helping out at a primary school

Physical section: 3 months

This could be developing a new hobby such as football or netball.

Skills section: 3 months

This could be learning a new skill or developing a current one such as cooking or learning a new language

Expedition section: 2 days/1 night

This could be attending a UKSA residential on the Isle of Wight.

I am interested in the DofE scheme at OSA….

Students who are interested or have any questions should speak to Miss Cooke; Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Leader/Manager (teaching in the Creative Design Faculty) or Mr King; Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Assistant Leader/Manager (Pastoral Manager.)