Duke of Edinburgh Update

24 March 2020

This message only applies to those enrolled onto the Duke of Edinburgh bronze award programme.

At this moment in time, following the government advice the practice and qualifying expeditions due to take place in the next 3 months have unfortunately had to be postponed to a later date this year. We will continue to update both pupils and parents on new dates, however, we hope to rearrange the expeditions as soon as it is safe to do so and so pupils must have all their evidence uploaded for this time.

Please use the time we are not in school to continue to upload necessary evidence onto the eDofE system (either online or via the app). If you have not yet started, it is not too late and I have attached some information for both yourself and parents on ideas for all sections. Please do not worry about your volunteering section if they have had to temporarily terminate your employment.

It is important to note you can continue to complete the bronze award both in school and more importantly, now at home as the programme is mainly self-directed. To do this, I have identified some quick tips below:

• Participants can change their chosen activities in eDofE
  • All a participant needs to do is revert a section back to draft -> change their chosen activity -> submit their new activity for approval
• Saint Johns Ambulance has a great self-directed skill plan (https://www.sja.org.uk/globalassets/documents/dofe/dofeselfteachworkbook.pdf)
• iDEA is a free award and platform centred around developing digital, enterprise and employability skills – This is a great skill section. (https://idea.org.uk/faqs/organisers/learner-management/173%7Cidea-and-the-duke-of-edinburghs-award)
• Switching physical activities to something based at home may also be a good option – there are plenty of apps around that could help facilitate this e.g. Army Fit or the 100 press up challenge or home work outs including the Joe Wicks ones which are free.
• For volunteering, consider something that can be based from home – keeping in touch with members of the community via social platforms, raising awareness for causes close to them or other ways to give their time to others without direct contact. Vlogging or creating a community based forum is a great way to achieve this.

The following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGmjQ6zlTQQ also explains how to use the eDofE App for those who may not have computers at home.

Thank you,
Miss Brown