Parkside School offers pupils the opportunity to participate in the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Registration is now open, please see this letter for details on how to register.

The Award is an adventure from beginning to end, with pupils enjoying many new experiences, discovering talents that they did not realise they had, challenging their potential, and standing out from the crowd. Many businesses and universities value the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and believe those who have completed it to be more rounded and employable individuals.

Pupils have until the age of 24 to complete the sections of the Bronze Award but our aim at Parkside will be for pupils to complete it by the beginning of Year 10.

The programme has 4 sections; Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition. Pupils complete a minimum of 3 months activity for each of the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections, and plan, train for and undertake a 2-day expedition. Pupils will then decide which section they would like to work on for a further three months.

The ‘Expedition’ section of the Award involves two separate weekends (Practice Expedition and an Assessed Expedition) where pupils will walk for two days and camp for one night, proving that they can be self-sufficient. Both these weekends will be in the Peak District National Park and/or the surrounding area.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award will be extra-curricular; pupils will be expected to spend some of their lunchtimes and after school hours undertaking training in camp craft and map navigation to enable them to participate in the expedition. They will also need to be prepared to give up time for the volunteering, physical and skills sections.

Further information about the award can be found at https://www.dofe.org/