Duke of Edinburgh Award

Another chance for learning outside the classroom has taken place this year with the introduction of the Duke of Edinburgh Award for Year 10 students.

The award covers four areas: volunteering, skills, physical and expedition. Students are required to complete the first three sections over a period of three to six months and the expedition section takes place in the summer term. 

Students are required to volunteer in the community and also learn a new skill. These tasks are arranged by the students themselves,allowing them to work independently. As part of the award, the students have to write a report on what they have learnt as a result of taking part in the activity, ensuring that they have to evaluate the skills they have gained.

The expedition section is particularly important as students are challenged not only physically, but they are constantly required to problem solve. Students have recently been on a weekend expedition to Ghyll Head in the Lake District where they had to work out their own route back to camp using a map and compass.

"Ghyll Head was brilliant. The best bit was that we had to work in teams to find our way back to camp – we made it eventually and I’ve realized how much you need to prepare for a walking expedition in the hills.” [Menka Hibbit, Year 10]

The Duke of Edinburgh Award encourages enterprise skills and by focusing specifically on them during a full-day, students are able to identify where their strengths lie and which ones they need to improve. The evaluation of these activities is really where students ‘learn outside the classroom’, and they are then able to draw on these skills in the classroom, thus helping them to reach their true potential as learners.