Castle Manor Academy

Duke of Edinburgh

We are in our seventh year of offering the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) at Castle Manor Academy.

DofE is an individual challenge which encourages young people to undertake constructive, challenging and enjoyable activities. There are four sections to DofE and our students are expected to fully commit to a set number of months to volunteer, improve their physical fitness, learn a new skill and undertake a two-day expedition as a team.

We enrol one group every year for Bronze DOFE students in Year 9 and then they have the opportunity to do Silver DOFE in Year 10 if they like. We also support our students who go to cadets for example to complete their award within our local community,

Year 9 and 10 have the opportunity to take part in the DofE Bronze Award which runs weekly after school sessions, weekend walks and overnight camps.

Our most recent cohort completed a local walk of around 20 miles for each team during September. 18 students passed their Bronze DOFE expedition and continue to work on their other sections to achieve their full award.

We are recruiting a new DOFE Bronze group for 2022-2023 and are offering 28 places.

Mrs Baldwin is our DofE Manager.

Lots of teachers support our DOFE programme both by partaking in the walks or by leading specific clubs to cover the skill and physical sections. Many of these staff are Year 9 and 10 form tutors too which helps guide our DOFE students to success. For example, Mr Gardiner, Miss Spurling, Miss Byrns, Miss Bruce, Mr Teare, Mrs Brown, Miss Allin, Miss Bushell help on a regular basis.

Delivery of the course is given by DofE trained staff, covering aspects such as map reading, how to deal with emergencies, road walking, camp craft, first aid and cooking on a camping stove.