The programme begins with students in Form 3 working towards the Bronze Award, and runs all-year-round with Bronze Award students meeting on Tuesday afternoons to take on a variety of activities. The activities are designed towards them achieving completion of the required Volunteering, Skills and Assessed Expedition sections.
Students in Form 3 have to set a target for the Skill section of the Bronze Award and quite often this ties in with the new skills learnt through taking part in school parades. All students in Form 3 are taught to participate in Ceremonial Drill which is considered by the DofE a performance art skill. This is reinforced in monthly College Sunday parades. As such, the Skill section of the Bronze Award can be achieved by the end of the first term but it is by no means mandatory to choose Ceremonial Drill and any other skills, from learning a musical instrument to learning a new sport, can be chosen.
Activities which Form 3 students have done to complete the Volunteering in the past have included digging a ha-ha around the cricket pitch, building a woodland fence, arranging woodchip for ropes courses, arranging the footpath leading to the College shop and clearing the brambles to help in the bluebell woods.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme in Form 3 culminates with the Assessed Expedition section where the students go away for two days and one night in the local area.
The Bronze Award programme continues in Form 4 with the Physical Recreation section which involves the student setting goals and targets, outside of lesson time, with a relevant assessor (ie. Member of staff who teaches the sport the student is being assessed in) to reach before the end of the year.