Duke of Edinburgh Award, mentoring and volunteering
Do you want to learn more about the Duke of Edinburgh Award? Be a peer mentor within your school/college or volunteer for the Targeted Youth Support Service. Please read on and become involved in your community.
What is a Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Programme?
You'll find yourself helping people or the community, getting fitter, developing skills, going on an expedition and taking part in a residential activity (Gold only).
But here's the best bit - you get to choose what you do!
Your programme can be full of activities and projects that get you buzzing. And along the way you’ll pick up experiences, friends and talents that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
D of E Levels
There are three levels of programme you can do which, when you've successfully completed lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold. The main differences between them are the minimum length of time it takes to complete them, how challenging it is and the minimum age you can start.
Depending on your age, you are free to start at any level but most people prefer to try for Bronze and work upwards. There are age restrictions for each one so it makes sense to build yourself up rather than dive in at the deep end. Don’t forget, you have until your 25th birthday to complete whichever level you’re working on and achieve an Award.
Duke of Edinburgh Awards
- Bronze starts 14 years, 1 section of 6 months & 2 sections of 3 months
- Silver starts at 15 years. 1 section of 12 months & 2 sections of 6 months
- Gold starts at 16 years, 1 section of 18 months, 2 sections of 12 months & 1 residential
Sections
You achieve an Award by completing a personal programme of activities in four sections (five if you're going for Gold).
These sections are:
- Volunteering - helping someone, your community or the environment;
- Physical - becoming fitter through sport, dance or fitness activities;
- Skills - developing existing talents or trying something new;
- Expedition - planning, training for and completing an adventurous journey;
- Residential - (Gold only) - staying and working away from home as part of a team
The length of time you have to spend on each section depends on the level of programme you are doing.
Your DofE Programme
Your first question should be what do I want to do? Once you’ve chosen the level you want to do, you create, plan and complete your own programme, making sure you've chosen an activity that counts for each section. It’s your chance to decide what you want to do, so you really go for stuff that you're interested in. Maybe you want to be a DJ or musician or perhaps you’re big into skateboarding or football?
Whatever really gets you going, the odds are you can do it for your DofE. And it doesn't matter if you've never done an activity before or if you've been doing it for years - you set your own challenges for each activity and just need to prove you've got better while you're doing it. check out the DofE website or ask your DofE Leader.
Local Schools/Colleges running the Award
We have several schools and colleges that are currently running the award. Check out if they are run at your school/college.
- Buxton School
- Chingford School
- Connaught Girls School
- Forest School
- Heathcote
- Highams Park
- Holy Family
- Leyton Sixth Form College
- Normanhurst
Pathfinders - Rushcroft Sports School
Scouts - Whitefields School
If your school/college is not running the award please contact us and we will help you to reach your goal of getting a Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Volunteer
Are you 16+ ? Do you want to develop new skills, work with young people in the community. Have an opportunity for personal development and gain recognition for your achievement? Come volunteer and work with young people aged 10-19 in a variety of settings. There may be an opportunity for a basic youth work qualification.
Should your application form be short listed, you will be invited to an interview. If you are successful, you will be required to then undergo a satisfactory reference and a CRB check.
Once these checks have been completed you will be registered on our volunteer list and invited to attend our mandatory in-house volunteer training course. It is our aim to conduct a volunteer recruitment process at least twice each year, potentially in April 2013 and October 2013 (dates to be confirmed). This is an AQA Level 1 Volunteer Youth Worker: Induction & Training course and will be delivered over a number of evenings and weekends. The training will include a placement phase, where candidates will be expected to offer a minimum of 1 evening per week for at least 12 weeks.
There are 3 types of volunteering opportunities available, as detailed below:
- Session volunteer: Volunteers will support any of the group sessions that we run from our youth centres or the Mobile Youth Bus. This may also include supporting trips and visits
- Duke of Edinburgh volunteer: This is a specialised volunteer role and will only be open to candidates that have specific skills and abilities. Will usually involve supporting residential trips, training and other related activities
- Mentor volunteers will provide one to one support to young people in a range of settings. This role may require additional training
Further information on all of these options will be made available during the training course.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please complete the volunteer form and email us on youth.service@walthamforest.gov.uk or post to our central office. Please remember that the time scales quoted are approximate and will often depend on the successful completion of the CRB process. This process is outside of our influence and can often take several months to be completed.
Mentoring
Thinking about making changes in your life? Would you like support in making positive life changes, for example, to do with school, careers, family, relationships? Or do you think you could support others in your school or college?
Youth Support Service offers a Mentoring Service for young people. Young people may find talking to an independent adult helps in developing ways of coping with situations that occur in life. If you are interested you can self refer and send your application to us TYSS.REF@walthamforest.gov.uk.
We also give training to young people interested in help others by giving them training and guidance from their school or college to help them in this role Please see the Volunteering section above.
Youth Bus
We have a varied service with the council. If you see the bus, please pop in and speak to us. If you wish to know where they are please contact the central office team.
