The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has been offered at Wilson’s School since September 2008 and since then has gone from strength to strength.

‘A brilliant way to gain recognition’

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a popular choice for students in Year 9 and above. We regularly see over 70% of all Year 9s and Year 10s working towards their Bronze Award, roughly half of all Year 11s working towards their Silver Award and around 30 Year 12s each year working towards their Gold Award.

It offers young people the opportunity to challenge themselves, acquire new skills, experience adventure and work with others. Universities and employers all recognise values such as commitment, time management and resilience and these are qualities that the Award instils in participants.

In 2016 Wilson’s became a directly licensed provider of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and each year a significant number of boys go on 2-day Bronze expeditions in Year 10, 3-day Silver expeditions in Year 11 and 4-day Gold expeditions in Year 12. A number of Wilson’s boys have had the honour of having their hard work recognised by a member of the royal family as all Gold Awards are presented at ceremonies at one of the royal palaces. 

In addition to the expeditions, at each level of the Award participants must complete a number of months of Volunteering, Physical activity and developing new or existing Skills. Gold participants must additionally complete a residential section. Students select their own programme of activities and, under guidance from the DofE Manager, set their own objectives. Since they are completing these sections in their own free time, outside of school, commitment and a desire to succeed are vital.

At Silver and Gold levels, participants are enrolled onto the scheme and complete their expedition during the same academic year. Things are a little different for Bronze students where they are enrolled during Year 9 and have a full year to complete their Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections before completing the expedition in Year 10. This initiative enables as many students as possible to complete their Awards.

For further information about how the DofE Award will run at Wilson’s, as well as useful downloads and links, please see our DofE Award website.