Dunblane High School DofE

Welcome to the Dunblane High School DofE group where you can find out how the DofE award works and what we do in our group.  There are sections for each award group with all the essential forms you need.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a participant-led award – the young person needs to want to do the award, and to complete the sections themselves. They are responsible for ensuring that the evidence is collected for the various sections and their assessors sign off their activities.  As a group, we are here to help and assist with the process and to provide the expedition experience.  However, it is up to the young person to put in the work!

About the Duke of Edinburgh Award

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has helped countless young people on their sometimes difficult path to adulthood.” HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

For the past seven decades, the DofE award has inspired and transformed the lives of millions of young people from all walks of life. From volunteering to physical activities, life skills to expeditions, achieving a DofE Award is a passport to a brighter future, valued by employers and universities.

About our Group

The overall DofE programme including Bronze, Silver and Gold levels, at DHS, is managed and facilitated by parents, volunteers and teachers. It is supported by DHS which provides venues for meetings, storage for the kit, administrative support and access to young people through the school, and Stirling Council.

DofE provide a licence to Stirling Council to run DofE awards, of which DHS is one, but we, the parents and volunteers run it independently.  As a group, we do our best to provide a great experience for the young people however we do need the help and support of parents and volunteers to make it happen.

There is a volunteer section on the website where adults can find out more about volunteering with our group – we are always looking for helpers with all sorts of experience from outdoors enthusiasts to admin roles.

Award levels and timings

There are three levels of programme you can do which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The main differences between them are the minimum length of time they take to complete, how challenging they are and the minimum age you can start.  You can find out more details on the DofE main website.   Within our group, we start the Bronze award in the September of 3rd Year.  All of our young people will then be 14 before they take part in the expedition section in the following year.  Silver and Gold are then completed in 4th and 5th/6th year respectively.

DofE Award sections

Adventurous, caring, sporty, creative… however you might describe yourself, the DofE is for you. Take a look at the Award sections below to find out more about how you can complete the award.

Physical   Skills   Volunteering    Expedition   Residential (for Gold DofE participants only)

Benefits of DofE Award

For the hundreds of thousands of other young people who take part each year throughout the world, the benefits of achieving a DofE Award at any level are endless.

It’s difficult to list them all here… but you should definitely know how much fun you’ll have, how pushing yourself to do new things will help you to grow in confidence and develop useful skills. Why meeting new people will inspire you and lead to lasting friendships. And how a DofE Award can give you the edge when you apply for college, university or a job.  Put simply, the DofE is about helping you along the path to a productive and prosperous future. As many of our participants say, it’s life-changing.