Duke of Edinburgh

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The Duke of Edinburgh award is a globally recognised youth program focused on developing young people's resilience, confidence and self-belief. The DofE program for 70 years and helped millions of young people find new skills and passions.

Wildern’s Duke of Edinburgh Vision

Here at Wildern School, we pride ourselves on running an engaging progressive, inclusive program which offers all students from Year 9 onwards the opportunity to discover new passions, take their ongoing skills further and contribute to society in a positive way through volunteering for local organisations and schemes. 

We are incredibly proud of the efforts students go to within the community, outlined by our social values certificate attached below. Our vision is for students in our school to continue to support local charities, schools and organisations, with more students taking part in DofE each year.

DofE Social Value Certificate 2026

Duke of Edinburgh Structure - Year 9 and 10 (Bronze Award)

At Wildern, students will start their Duke of Edinburgh journey by completing their Bronze award across Year 9 and 10.

In Year 9, students are given an introduction to some of the amazing opportunities they will get by doing their Duke of Edinburgh. This involves fortnightly sessions learning the essentials of map skills and camp craft, completing two walks (one in the local area and one in the New Forest) and also doing an overnight camp learning to cook on camping stoves, set up tents and make smores on the campfire!

Students will also work on completing four sections: volunteering, physical, skills and expedition. An outline of the bronze section is linked below:

Bronze summary

In Year 10, students will continue to develop their skills through more walks and another camp before completing their final expedition during the Summer term.

Year 11 (Silver Award)

Once students are successful in completing their Bronze award, there is an opportunity for them to complete their Silver Award in Year 11.

This is a natural continuation from the skills that they were developing in Bronze, where students will complete a walk, Practice Expedition (2 days walking, 1 night camping) and their Final Expedition (3 days walking, 2 nights camping)batter their GCSE exams have finished, ensuring that it does not get in the way of their studies. This has always marked a very enjoyable way for students to end their time with us here at Wildern.

A summary of the silver award can be found below

Silver summary

Included below are a range of different links that will be beneficial for students completing their DofE award:

• Assessors Reports

• DofE Website

• Volunteering Ideas for under 16’s

Volunteering, Physical and Skills section ideas