What is the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award?
The DofE Award is an exciting, adventurous and fun programme for young people that enables them to develop existing skills as well as to try new activities and challenges.
There are three levels to the award; Bronze, Silver and Gold, and the higher the level, the more commitment and personal challenge is needed in order to achieve the award. Each level requires participants to complete four different areas; volunteering, physical activity, skill and an expedition.
The volunteering, physical and skills sections require participants to commit to an hour a week for a set length of time. This could be an after-school activity, a sports club, an individual activity or simply helping out a neighbour or someone in the community.
Bronze DofE at Min y Don
The Min y Don DofE Club provides weekly meetings to encourage local young people to achieve the prestigious, nationally recognised Award. During the evening sessions we work through the Skills section as a group, before turning our attention to planning and training for a two day, one night walking and camping expedition. We also give guidance to the young people on selecting suitable activities and support them as they work through their Volunteering and Physical sections.
Silver/ Gold
We are willing to provide support and guidance to Silver and Gold candidates, but with an emphasis on each participant taking more initiative and therefore requiring less of an input from the DofE Leaders. Support takes the form of face-to-face meetings, as well as using Social Media, eDofE (the online logbook and resource centre) email correspondence and phone conversations either with parents or participants as appropriate. The complete expedition section is still provided; including the necessary guidance during planning and all aspects of training and supervision.
DofE Calendar
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Month | Activity
June:|Registration opens for applicants; participants are then able to start recording their achievements.
September:|Weekly club meetings for Bronze participants commence at Ysgol Y Friog.
September – January:|Skills section is delivered during the evening sessions for three months; currently we provide participants with the opportunity to achieve the St John’s Young Life Savers Award as they learn and develop potentially life saving first-aid skills such as resuscitation, choking and dealing informal reviews and assessments along the way.
February – July: (Bronze)|Expedition training and preparation begins inside during the darker evenings with the group getting to grips with essential map-reading and route-planning skills and progresses outside as the evenings get lighter, including skills such as practical navigation, pitching tents and using camping stoves. Each team then undertakes a practise expedition before taking on a two day, unaccompanied group expedition followed by a presentation to complete the section.
(Silver/ Gold) | Expedition preparation and training takes place with participants then completing an assessed three day, two night expedition.
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We acknowledge that coursework, exams and other school commitments may make high demands on young people’s time, so we will always endeavour to work around major school events and only schedule meetings during term time.
What are the benefits of completing a DofE Award?
The benefits are countless! From learning to work together with different people, solving problems, developing organisation, showing commitment, making friends that might last a life time and of course having great fun along the way! Participants grow in confidence, develop many skills that may be used later in life and often learn more about themselves as they face, and overcome challenges. The value of achieving your DofE award, regardless of the level, is appreciated by colleges, universities and employers across the country and often sets applicants who hold a DofE award above their peers.
Please visit our Facebook page “Min-y- Don Duke of Edinburgh Award” for more information on doing your DofE Award with Min-y- Don or to see recent photos from expeditions or other DofE events.