Duke of Edinburgh
Tudor Grange Academy Solihull (TGAS) is proud to offer our students the opportunity to join the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The DofE is a nationally and internationally recognised Award favoured by employers and universities alike. Over time, students participating in the DofE Awards build confidence, dedication and commitment, attributes we all want to see in our young people in school, life and in the workplace.
Students feel the benefit of achieving their DofE Award for the rest of their lives. It provides a prestigious certificate recognising their achievement and an improved chance of getting into university, college or a job.
Young people design their own DofE programmes. They can choose which activities they want to push themselves to improve or which cause they want to volunteer for, and do what they love ? whether it?s football, cooking or photography, coding, yoga or fighting climate change. They develop personal skills including time management, problem solving and initiative. It also improves their interpersonal skills and gives them friendships for life. Besides that, it?s fun!
- Bronze participants apply at the start of Year 9
- Silver participants apply at the start of Year 10
- Gold participants apply at the start of Year 12.
DofE research with Gold Award holders shows that:
TGAS DofE Physical Section Achievements in the year 22/23 – We’d like to acknowledge and celebrate the time and efforts that our DofE participants have dedicated to the Physical Section of the DofE Award at TGAS. Attached is a certificate setting out the number of hours our young people spent working on their Physical Section. It includes any young person with a completed Physical Section from 1st April 2022 until 31st March 2023.
Opportunities – DofE Volunteering & Skills!
If anyone needs support with finding placements for their Volunteering and Skills section, we have been offered opportunities for DofE participants to Bell Ring at St Alphege Church Solihull and to assist with volunteering at Solihull Station – flower beds and litter picking. If this is of interest to you, please contact me for more information.
HSBC also offer DofE support – SBC UK Smart Money for DofE. They have sent us the following information:
‘Financial knowledge is an important skill for everyday life. We know that 85% of young people wished they had learnt more about money at school so that they could make more informed choices in their lives.
We are excited to introduce the new HSBC UK Smart Money for DofE which is suitable for Bronze and Silver learners aiming to complete their Duke of Edinburgh Award. Our Skills programme is designed to build financial capability through a series of interactive webinars, practical activities, and reflections to help young people develop the financial knowledge, skills, and attitudes for a successful financial future’.
IBM are also offering opportunities. The DofE are working in partnership with IBM SkillsBuild to enable DofE participants to access 100s of courses and certifications to complete the Skills section of their Bronze, Silver or Gold Award, please see the link below:
https://www.dofe.org/shopping/ibm-skillsbuild-home-page/
There is also a wealth of information on the DofE page’s ‘Opportunity Finder’;
https://www.dofe.org/opportunity-finder/opportunity-for-dofe-participant/?paged=1&distancelearning=1
With regards to the volunteering section with businesses, DofE have made a few adjustments.
They have updated the section’s aims, principles, and outcomes to highlight the impact volunteering can have on the individual and wider society. Please see the attached document for more details.
TGAS Volunteering Achievement 2022-23
Volunteering Hours during the financial year 2022 – 2023′. Between all of the DofE Participants at TGAS during this period, they volunteered for 1612 hours which if this had a monetary ‘social value’ (based on minimum wage), that would equate to £7752.
Comments from past TGAS participants
“DofE gave me the opportunity to develop myself as a person as well as give something back to the community. Not only this, the expedition has given me memories I will never forget – I definitely recommend!” Leah, Bronze Award holder
“Doing the DofE awards motivated me to try new activities that I had never considered doing before, which has given me a unique set of skills and life long memories that I will look back on with a smile.” Tom, Bronze Silver and Gold Award holder
“I enjoyed every aspect of my DofE Awards but particularly the challenge of the expeditions. The Award made it easier for me to demonstrate at university and apprenticeship interviews the skills they were looking for, such as communication, leadership and problem solving – resulting in my securing an apprenticeship and university offer.” George, Bronze Silver and Gold award holder
How long does a DofE programme take to complete?
Application And Support Packs
Videos
Additional videos can be found on the D0fE website – https://www.dofe.org/do/parents/