Duke of Edinburgh – Grange Academy

Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award

We are pleased to offer our students the opportunity to complete the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Bronze Award, an outstanding internationally recognised initiative aimed at 14 to 25 year olds with the aim of developing young people and the skills they have. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was founded, and is patroned by Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh, in 1956. During this time, the scheme has been dedicated to the personal development of young people from all backgrounds and is the widest reaching programme of any UK youth charity with 500,000+ young people taking part every year.

D of E at Grange Academy

This year, we have embedded this into our curriculum, further supporting those students who choose it as one of their options, guiding them to the successful completion of their award. We currently offer support in achieving Bronze Award at Grange Academy, with the aspiration of taking this further to Silver.

Achieving a DofE Award is a valuable, nationally recognised, award which will improve your child’s Curriculum Vitae for future applications to college or work. As well as support them in their own interest, building resilience and independence. We also have lots of fun, learn new skills and learn to work as a supportive team.

Award Expectations

Over the coming year, students will register and sign up to the DofE app/ eDofE website and undergo the completion of the 4 different sections required for their DofE award:

Skills: They can develop an existing skill, such as playing a musical instrument, or learn a new skill. More information is available here. We will work with students to find skills they wish to explore and look at how best to support them. This may include Origami, table games and snooker/pool,
Physical: Almost any physical activity is included, either team based or individual. It can be an existing activity, or they can start a new one. More information is available here . In school, this includes the sports they learn and take part in during P.E. lessons, but also hiking and other physical activities.
Volunteering: This section is designed to promote independence in the participation and allow them to support the community. This can be completed in person or virtually, more information is available here. In school we will be working together on an enterprise programme, raising money for a charity of their choice.
Expedition: One of the major and most memorable aspects of the Bronze Award, is the expedition. At this level, this takes on the form of a two-day, one night expedition. We aim to provide an opportunity for both practice and qualifying expedition, where students will be supported and monitored by staff. On the qualifying expedition, students will have an assessor monitoring each group from a distance, so students will have a greater level of independence.

Further Training and Support

Accessibility is paramount to what we deliver here at Grange Academy, with the DofE award we ensure students’ needs are catered for to the best of our ability. We will work with you and the students to maintain all the DofE expectations are met, whilst still meeting the needs of your child. In addition, to ensure they have the necessary skills for the expedition element, they will be complete specific training prior to their expeditions. These will cover the following topics:

Expedition Training

Team building and fitness development planning
Map and compass skills
Route planning and navigation skills
Camp craft and equipment care
First Aid and Emergency Procedures
Risk, Health and Safety assessing
Understanding the Countryside and Highway code

At Grange Academy, we support our students to not only embrace their curriculum but go beyond, immersing their own hobbies, interests and personality into their learning, establishing their identity on their future.

Grange Academy is a Unicef Gold Rights Respecting School and Gold Artsmark School. Ofsted rated ‘Good’ (May 2022).
Telephone: 01234 407100 – Office Email: grange@biltt.org

Grange Academy is part of Bedford Inclusive Learning and Training Trust
Company Number: 08156641

Privacy Notice | Vacancies