On the 17th May, 11 young people from Abbeyfield School attended a presentation at Buckingham Palace Gardens, London, where they received their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards after sharing their experiences with Trustee for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), HRH The Earl of Wessex.
During the Gold Award Presentation, HRH took the opportunity to congratulate the group from Abbeyfield School on their successes and heard about their DofE journeys, which took each young person 12-18 months of hard work and dedication.
Those who achieve a Gold DofE Award will volunteer, learn a skill, get fit, take part in a week long residential and plan and undertake an expedition in wild country. Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people, DofE programmes enable any young person, aged 14-24, to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment and team working.
Sally Silcock, who is the DofE Manager and Head of Science at Abbeyfield School said, “I am delighted with the success of the Gold Award which was re-introduced at Abbeyfield School in 2015. To achieve the award alongside sixth form studies is testament to their dedication. The local community benefits from the volunteering completed which ranged from helping at a local animal sanctuary to working in charity shops. The award allows students to demonstrate activities that they have completed for their own personal development. Achieving the award enabled one student to recieve an unconditional offer of a place at University.”
There are currently over 300,000 young people taking part in a DofE programme across the UK through a variety of centres including both state and independent schools, special schools, businesses, prisons, young offender institutions and youth groups.
To find out more about the DofE and how it enables young people to succeed, please visit www.DofE.org