Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award

 

Welcome to our Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award page. Here you will find more information on taking your first steps to completing your Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. You will find an introductory video below:

 

Welcome Video

 

This next presentation further explains the different sections, and how long you will be spending on completing them:

Your Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award can be started in the academic year you turn 15 (Year 10). As explained on the presentation and the previous page, there are four sections to be completed for your Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award (these sections are present at all levels of the Duke of Edinburgh Award) – as with the Bronze Award. For each section you will need to participate for 1 hour a week, for a certain number of months. Below identifies how many months you need to complete for each section;

 

Level	Physical	Skill	Volunteering	Expedition	Residential	Notes
Silver	3 or 6 Months	3 or 6 Months	6 Months	3 Day with 2-nights camping		For your Physical or Skills Sections - 1 Section has to be completed for 6 months and the other for 3 months
Direct Silver	3 or 6 Months	3 or 6** Months	6 Months **	3 Day with 2-nights camping		For your Physical or Skills Sections - 1 Section has to be completed for 6 months and the other for 3 months
						As you are completing the Direct Silver, you have to complete one of your two 6 month sections for an additional 6 months – so equalling 12 months (you cannot put the 6 months onto the section you are doing for 3 month)

 

A Direct Silver applicant is someone who is 15 or older (and is yet to turn 24) at the start of the school Year and has not completed the Bronze Level.

If you have completed your Bronze Award, you can use the same activities but the time spent on the Bronze Award does not count towards the time for your Silver Award

 

Expedition

At Silver level, you will be undertaking an expedition consisting of 3 days walking an 2 nights camping. At Silver level, it is typical for this to be done by foot/walking but there are other options available, such as cycling or canoeing. Currently, we employ the use of a local training provider to complete the Expedition Section, and these costs and those of the expedition and enrolment are inclusive.

At Silver Level, the structure of the Expedition section is as follows. Please note all 3 weekends need to be completed for the section to be complete:

• Training Weekend
• Practice Weekend
• Qualifying Weekend

The expedition must be completed by your own physical efforts, with minimal external interventions and without motorised assistance (special cases will be addressed on a case by case basis). You will be walking in groups of 4-7 people and groups are remotely supervised by qualified leaders and by Sir Graham Balfour Staff. On the Qualifying weekend, you will be assessed by the Duke of Edinburgh Award 20 conditions. 

If after viewing the presentation and additional information, you are interested in completing the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award, please fill in the Duke of Edinburgh Enrolment form attached to this letter and hand it into Reception. This must be accompanied by a payment of the required deposit via ParentPay

If you did not complete your Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and you are interested in completing your Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award as a direct applicant, please see Mr Mapperson or e-mail dofe@sirgrahambalfour.sch.uk

For all our current Year 9 students, an assembly will be held for students in the summer term informing the students about the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. In the meantime, If you have any question please read our FAQ  document or alternatively please contact the school at dofe@sigrahambalfour.staffs.sch.uk or visit the Duke of Edinburgh Award website www.dofe.org