Duke of Edinburgh Award

#OurNorthRoad is pleased to announce that we are now offering our students the opportunity to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. As a licensed centre, we facilitate activities, provide materials, and allocate resources needed for students to successfully achieve the Award.

Some of you may be wondering what the Duke of Edinburgh Award actually is. The DofE Award scheme, was set up by the Duke of Edinburgh over 60 years ago. The aim was to encourage young people to take on new experiences and develop themselves into ‘more rounded people’. There are three different levels to attain – bronze, silver and gold and four sections, including expedition planning & completion, getting fitter, helping in the community and developing new skills. At gold level, there is an additional section working with a new team of people on a residential trip.

Participants need to be 14 for bronze level, 15 for silver and 16 – 24yrs for the gold level. It is a rigorous, challenging award and hard work, with strong commitment required to complete all levels.

The benefits to a young person from completing the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, whichever level, are enormous and will help steer them through their adult life. Facing up to personal challenges, acquiring skills to cope with tough situations, time management, leadership, teamwork and communication. These are all necessary qualities for ultimately achieving success. Universities and employers highly value the Duke of Edinburgh Award which helps their applications stand out from the crowd.

As a school, one of our key values is ‘lifelong learning’ – to encourage an active mind that thrives on learning and understanding, not just in school, but in all aspects of life and to equip our students with the knowledge, patience and attitude necessary to become happy, well adjusted, productive adults and responsible citizens. The DofE is aligned with that; being renowned for helping youth develop lifelong skills which is why this is a great opportunity for our Secondary students إن شاء الله تعالى

It’s a powerful way for any young person to build life-long belief in themselves, whatever  their interest, background or ability. It can help them to do better in education, improve their mental health, help get the job they want, and make a difference in their community.