Duke of Edinburgh Award

For over 60 years now the Duke of Edinburgh Award has been available to young people aged 14 to 25.

Students who undertake the award get involved in community service work, learn new skills, take part in physical recreation, and plan and carry out their own expedition. Loreto College currently offers all of its Year 10 students the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. We feel that this is a valuable experience for the pupils in both their personal development and the enhancement of their local community.

Our Bronze Award expedition takes place in the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire area. This area not only provides an excellent introduction to navigation skills but is also a pleasure to spend time in. As well as completing the expedition, pupils must devote a minimum of 3 months to the other three sections: Volunteering, Physical, and Skills. Pupils also have to spend an extra three months on one of these sections: it’s their choice which one and, though they can change their mind later, they should really decide which section they want to do for longer at the beginning of the whole process; knowing how long they’re going to spend on it will help them to set appropriate aims for each section.

We now offer the Silver Award to our year 12 students. Similar to Bronze, participants need to take part in an expedition but one that takes three days rather than two. They also need to complete their Skills, Volunteering and Physical sections, spending six months Volunteering and three or six months on their Physical or Skills section. If students wish to take part in the Silver Award without having completed the Bronze award, they will need to spend a year on the Volunteering section or the longer of the Physical or Skills sections. The Silver Award takes place in the East Sussex, allowing students to complete a more rigorous expedition surrounded by beautiful scenery