The High School of Glasgow
Handbook for Participants and Parents
Table of Contents
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Introduction 2
What do you get out of completing one of The Award Levels? 2
DofE and the High School of Glasgow 3
Points of Contact 3
The school as an Operating Authority 3
Expectations of Participants 4
Organisation 4
Behaviour 4
Success in DofE 4
The Structure of the Award 6
Award Levels 6
Bronze 6
Silver 6
Gold 6
Durations 7
Extensions to Deadlines 7
The Award Sections 7
Lifecycle of a Section 7
Volunteering 7
Physical 8
Skills 8
Expedition 8
Residential 9
The Role of eDofE 9
Getting Started 9
Appendices (equipment care, kit list, 20 conditions 11-15
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Introduction
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award justifiably claims to be the world’s leading achievement award for young people. It was set up by its Patron HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956 and continues to go from strength to strength. The Award is a voluntary, non-competitive programme of activities for young people. Doing their DofE gives young people the opportunity to experience new activities or develop existing skills. There are three progressive levels of programme which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. Young people create their own DofE programme by choosing a volunteering, physical and skills activity, going on an expedition and, for their Gold, taking part in a residential activity.
The lower level of the Award must be completed before participants are permitted to progress.
DofE programmes help young people develop into fully rounded and responsible individuals. Participants willsee new talents andskills develop and emotional maturity blossom whilst also building their fitness and initiative.
There are so many rewards for young people who do DofE programmes and achieve an Award. Its balanced programme of activities develops the whole person – mind, body and soul, in an environment of social interaction and team work.Furthermore, as doing their DofE involves developing a personal programme of challenging activities, participants enjoy unique experiences and rewards.
Further details of The Award are available on the website http://www.dofe.org
What do you get out of completing one of The Award Levels?
· The satisfaction of a job well done, challenges overcome, progress with personal goals and a team expedition completed
· An award that demonstrates your character, the value of which is widely understood
· An Achievement Pack, a personalised record of your achievement collated from your eDofE entries. Everyone receives an achievement pack in pdf form, and for a small charge it can be printed and bound.
DofE and the High School of Glasgow
Pupils in S3 and above are actively encouraged to participate in the DofE Award a primary path for extracurricular activity. DofE in particular is inclusive of a rich mix of other extra-curricular activities (whether within or outwith school) that fulfil the physical, skills and volunteering sections to The Award.
We provide DofE in a school context and deliver it in such a way that a keen and conscientious participant can achieve all three Award levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) starting in S3. Gold can be completed in S6, and in some cases up to a year of leaving school.
This handbook will defer to The Award website http://www.dofe.org for the content of The Award, but as an Operating Authority within a school these are the guidelines to which pupil participants must adhere at the High School.
Points of Contact
DofE Manager Mr T Lyons
Expedition Manager Ronnie Hamilton
Grouse edofe 1 Mr Lyons
Grouse edofe 2 Ms MacPherson
Ptarmigan edofe1 Ms Henderson
Ptarmigan edofe 2 Dr Went
Silver Staffa edofe Miss Cranie
Silver Iona edofe Mr Purdie
Gold edofe Mrs Peek
Edofe Verifier Mrs Sim
Store Managers Mr Purdie/ Mr Tierney
The school website is a good place to look for links information about this season’s programme (dates, costs etc.), further reference material and for links to other useful sites.
The School as an Licensed Authority
· Provides a means of enrolling for The Award
· Provides your welcome pack
· Supports your use of the eDofE system
· Provides support for your choice of activities (Volunteering, Physical, Skills and at Gold residential)
· Delivers your Expedition Training
· Organises your Practice Expedition
· Organises your Qualifying Expedition
· Assesses your performance (externally at Gold) and passes or defers your completion of the Expedition section
· Approves your activities when you have presented evidence through the eDofE system
· Arranges for your Award to be presented either at Assembly or, in the case of Gold, at Prizegiving and Holyrood Palace.
Expectations of Participants
Organisation
One of the benefits recognised by successful candidates is the development of organisational and timekeeping skills. If you are to progress through the three levels whilst at school, then you will need to deploy both of these skills.
In particular:
· You need to start your activities in good time to complete them before the start of the next Award level. An activity that requires 3 months to complete, requires 12 weeks of sustained effort, and may well require a good deal more elapsed time to allow for the weeks when other commitments such as holidays or exams interrupt the flow.
· You need to use eDofE to record the start date of your activity, collect evidence and request approval. It must be done as you are going along – it cannot be back dated at the end.
· The expedition training is essential for your safe participation in the expeditions and attendance at training sessions is mandatory. If you have a good reason for absence you may make up some of the sessions by completing catch up exercises.
· The timings of the expeditions are extremely tight. If you have other commitments that clash then the clashes need to be brought to everyone’s attention as early as possible so attempts can be made to resolve them. There is very little flexibility in the expedition dates and unfortunately clashes usually mean that you have to defer the expedition (and hence The Award) by a year.
Behaviour
The Award itself places high expectations on participants. Moreover, as the expeditions are organised by the School you are not just an Award participant, you are representing the school – and the expectations on you are the same as if you were wearing your school uniform or a team kit.
Success in DofE
Achieving The Duke of Edinburgh Award is not something that is done for you – it is something that you have to achieve for yourself. As your Operating Authority the school will support you, but you have to select and complete the various sections for yourself.
The three main characteristics that will ensure success in DofE are:
· Determination
· Organisation
· Teamwork.
Achieving an Award is a demonstration of these characteristics, which in themselves are vital to your future success in life.
The Structure of the Award
Award Levels
The schools offer the following Award Levels. The normal and expected route through The Award is to start at Bronze, and then continue to Silver and Gold. Not everyone who starts a level completes it, and not everyone who completes one level moves on to the next. There is a real progression in standard and the commitment required as you move from one level to the next.
There is one extra path offered – that of direct entry at Silver. However, the programme for Direct Silver is longer than for those following on from Bronze, it requires a further 6 months of commitment on one of the sections.
Bronze
You need to be 14 years old to start Bronze. This does not apply to commencing school expedition training sessions. Discretion may be applied to the commencing of one section before 14th birthday.
Volunteering / Physical / Skills / Expedition3/6 Months / 3/6 Months / 3/6 Months / Plan, train for and complete a
2 day, 1 night expedition
One of Volunteering, Physical or Skills must be extended to 6 months
Silver
You need to be 15to continue to Silver.
You need to have received your Bronze Award by the October week.
Volunteering / Physical / Skills / Expedition6 Months / 3/6 Months / 3/6 Months / Plan, train for and complete a
3 day, 2 night expedition
One of Physical or Skills must be extended to 6 months
Gold
You need to be 16 years old to continue to Gold[1] (the school does not offer direct entry to Gold). Your must have received your Silver Award by the October week.
You need to have completed your Silver Award by the October week.
Volunteering / Physical / Skills / Expedition12 Months / 6/12 Months / 6/12 Months / Plan, train for and complete a
4 day, 3 night expedition
One of Physical or Skills must be extended to 12 months
Residential – Undertake a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights with people you do not know.
All Gold activity completed while at school must be recorded at that time. The school cannot approve activity entered retrospectively on edofe at any level.
Durations
The timescales quoted above are the bare minimum. The Award requires that young people must show persistence, commitment and personal development over a period of time. 3 months means that for each week of the period the participant commits a minimum of 1 hour to the activity. If there are breaks for holidays, exams, or indeed the end of a sports season, then the activity must be continued the other side of the break, extending the elapsed time accordingly. A burst of activity over a short period is explicitly excluded by The Award.
Extensions to Deadlines
These can only be considered when illness, accident or unavoidable circumstances make it impossible to complete a programme in the expected timescale.
The Award Sections
Lifecycle of a Section
Every Section at every level has the following stages:
· Preparation – researching a suitable activity, stating your aims, identifying an assessor
· Training – identifying and taking part in any training necessary to participate in the activity
· Activity – taking part in the activity and posting on-going evidence on the eDofE system
· Assessment – meeting with your assessor so they can assess that you have met your aims.
Volunteering
Volunteering is about choosing to give time to do something useful, without getting paid. It can be helping people, the community or society, the environment or animals. It may be done individually, or as part of a team. Although there are many school activities that meet the general criteria, this section should take place outwith school.
Physical
A physical activity is anything that requires a sustained level of physical energy. You should set an appropriate challenge; it is essential that you show progression and a sustained interest over time. You need to show a development in the chosen activity.
Skills
The key to the skills section is that you select an activity that requires you to develop a skill or skills. It may be extending an existing skill, or developing a new one. You should set an appropriate challenge that will require you to develop your skills, the achievement of which can be measured by your assessor.
Expedition
The expedition section prepares you for an adventurous expedition in wild country, where you will be self-sufficient in all respects. As well as completing a journey, your team needs to have an aim. After the qualifying expedition you need to make a presentation showing how you have met your aim. The expedition is the section that involves the most direct involvement with the School, which acts as your expedition provider.
Training for the expedition will take place on Monday evenings after school. It is essential that you attend all training – or in the case of having to miss one or two sessions, that you undertake suitable catch-up tasks.
A practice expedition will be undertaken to ensure that you are competent in the necessary skills and that you approach the expedition with a suitable respect for yourself, your team, your equipment and the environment you are travelling through.
The Qualifying Expedition is just that – it is an expedition where you are assessed for having reached an appropriate standard.
At each stage in the process your expedition trainer needs to be certain that you have achieved the appropriate standard to move on to the next stage. If you fail to reach that standard you will be deferred, and the next opportunity you will have to continue with the expedition section will be during the following year’s expedition season.
If due to other commitments you are unable to fit in with the School’s expedition schedule, or if the expedition delivered by the school is unsuitable for your needs, then you can still use the school as an Operating Authority but use an external expedition provider.
Residential
The residential is a section that is unique to Gold. It is intended to bring together young people from different backgrounds in a common activity. It is not just about being away from home for 5 consecutive days (minimum), but being with people you do not know and sharing a common purpose.
From this definition it is clear that this cannot be a school organised activity – or be carried out with peers. Many residential activities are run by a broad range of organisations and centres. Always check with your leader before committing to a residential: we need to be sure that it meets the criteria. Naturally we will be able to share the experiences of previous Gold participants, so please seek advice in good time.
The Role of eDofE
eDofE is an electronic management system for The Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award. When you are enrolled at a particular level you are given a log-in to eDofE. For each section of the award you need to state your aims, provide on-going evidence and approval from your assessor. All of these entries need to be approved by the member of staff acting as your leader.