The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a leading youth personal development programme offering participants the opportunity to learn new skills, make new friends and to develop their resilience and sense of purpose. The benefits of the programme are well documented and young people taking part experience positive impacts on their wellbeing, skills development, self-confidence and belief and the ability to work as a team and problem solve. Employers recognise and value the DofE and actively select employees that have achieved awards and developed the associated soft skills that are so important in the workplace.
At TNHA we offer the Bronze and Silver levels of the award, and participants are well prepared to start their Gold Award at their next destination after Year 11. The Award is split into 4 sections: Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition.
There is a wide variety of activities that participants can choose – set new goals for activities they already do or take the opportunity to try something completely new. Some examples;
Volunteering:
- Coaching younger children in sport, numeracy or literacy
- Undertaking work for a charity or community organisation
- Helping with animal welfare, environmental or conservation projects
- Supporting an elderly neighbour
- Looking after community spaces and gardens
Physical:
- Team sports – Football, netball, hockey, cricket, rugby etc
- Swimming, dancing, martial arts, gymnastics, cycling
- Lower impact activities such as yoga, Tai Chi, Walking
Skills:
- Cookery
- Use an app to learn a new language
- Learn to play a musical instrument
- Coding, programming, web development
- Photography, graphic design, content creation
- Singing and the performing arts
Life skills
- Expedition:
The training for the expedition section includes; navigation and route planning, first aid, nutrition and menu planning, building camps – putting up tents and shelters, cooking and using camping stoves, problem solving and working as a team on a shared goal.
At Bronze there is a 2 day/1 night Expedition and at Silver it is 3 days/2 nights. Distances travelled each day depend on routes and terrain and designed to be challenging but achievable for all.
The programme offered at TNHA is inclusive and great fun. We have a really good achievement rate and young people are celebrated. We also subscribe to the DofE Young Leader programme helping to build leadership skills and develop a sense of responsibility by assisting leaders with the delivery of the programme and supporting peers.
