DofE Award Scheme

The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is a programme of challenging activities that will help develop a young person’s confidence, self-esteem and many other skills and qualities that will benefit them in the future. The award itself is internationally recognised and is highly regarded by employers and colleges as well.

At Swanmore we participate in the Bronze and Silver award commencing during Year 9.

The award is made up of 4 sections, all of which must be completed outside of normal school hours.

Skill: the student either improves on an existing skill or takes up a new one.
Physical: the student must take part in a regular form of physical exercise
Volunteer: the student must carry out some form of regular voluntary work
Expedition: the students have to complete an ‘unsupported’ expedition in unfamiliar territory on foot – for Bronze it lasts 2 days and 1 night, and for Silver it is 3 days' walking and 2 nights camping.

Bronze Award

For the Skill, Physical and Volunteer section, all agreed activities must be carried out regularly for a minimum of 3 months and then students choose which one of these sections to carry out for a further 3 months, so totalling 6 months in all. Please see the video below for more information about the bronze award:

Silver Award

Volunteering – 6 months

Skill and Physical – 1 needs to be 6 and 1 needs to be 3 months in duration (if they are a direct entrant and have not completed the bronze award, then one of the 6-month sections will be extended to 12 months).

Please note that pupils can start the silver award even if they haven’t completed the bronze award. If they are currently working towards their bronze award, they can dual register for both, as long as at least 2 sections have been completed with assessor reports. Please see the video below for more information about the silver award:

Need help?

If you have any questions or need any help, please contact the DofE team: dofe-help@swanmore-sec.hants.sch.uk

DofE video - Welcome to DofE

See the DofE Welcome playlist on YouTube, with videos about the Bronze and Silver awards: YouTube DofE Welcome playlist