Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award 2025/26
Is your child ready to challenge themselves, develop new skills, and make lifelong friendships? If so, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme is the perfect opportunity.
The DofE is a personal achievement award that encourages young people to set goals, work towards them, and celebrate their success. It’s a fantastic way to:
● Build confidence and resilience: by overcoming challenges and stepping outside their comfort zone.
● Develop essential life skills: such as teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving.
● Make a positive impact on their community: through volunteering and helping others.
Throughout the school year, as in previous years, we will organise group volunteering activities for the whole DofE cohort. Last year, for example, we supported the Paddock Wood Half Marathon, donated food to the Paddock Wood Food Bank, and volunteered at a community lunch, along with other local events.
Who Can Take Part
The Bronze Award is open to all Year 9 students. Each participant will complete four sections over the year, which together lead to the completion of the Award.
1. Volunteering
Students give back to the community through unpaid work. This could include volunteering at a local charity, helping at a school or community centre, or supporting environmental projects. Last year, students volunteered at Paddock Wood Primary, helped with local scout groups, and supported elderly neighbours with gardening or weekly chores.
2. Physical Activity
This section promotes a healthy, active lifestyle. Students choose a physical activity they enjoy and commit to doing it regularly — whether that’s a team sport, dancing, hiking, or simply walking part of the way to school.
3. Skills
Participants develop a new skill or improve an existing one, working towards a specific goal. This could involve learning a language, playing an instrument, or taking up a hobby. Cooking at home was the most popular choice last year! For each section, students upload evidence of their progress to the DofE app and, at the end, ask someone to complete an Assessor Report summarising their achievements.
4. Expedition
This involves planning and completing an adventurous outdoor journey with friends — a challenge both physically and mentally. For the Bronze Award, students will first take part in a 50% staff-led training expedition in the Westerham area (30/04 – 01/05), followed a few weeks later by their assessed expedition in the Tonbridge area (11/06 – 12/06).
Each expedition runs over two days and one night.
The DofE programme is flexible and can be tailored to individual interests and abili
Costs
The total cost to join and complete this year’s Bronze Award is £245 (previously £260).
● £30.50 enrolment fee: Paid to the DofE charity. This covers access to the eDofE online system, an outdoor retailer discount card, and secures your child’s place (non-refundable deposit).
● £205 expedition fee: Paid to our expedition partners, BXM Expeditions, who provide training days, camping fees, tents, cooking equipment, insurance, risk assessments, and expert staff to lead each expedition. Without BXM, we would not be able to run our DofE programme at this time.
● £9.50 school contribution: Goes into the school DofE fund to support awards evenings, provide emergency kit, and offer small treats during expeditions.
If paying the full amount is difficult at the moment, please reach out — we want the Award to be accessible to everyone.
You can contact me directly at dofe@mascalls.latrust.org.uk for a confidential conversation.
What Happens Next
Information about the DofE programme will be shared with students during Advisory time over the coming weeks.
If your child is interested, please complete the attached Google Form to register your interest. Once we have confirmed numbers, I will contact you with details on how to pay the £30.50 non-refundable deposit via Scopay to secure your child’s place.
We want as many students as possible to take part and make this a truly fantastic cohort!
Parents and students who express interest will be invited to a Parents’ Information Evening, where you can ask questions and hear from our DofE team, BXM Expeditions, and Bethan Clarke, our representative from the Duke of Edinburgh Charity.
After that, we’ll officially launch the year’s programme.
Useful Links:
Duke of Edinburgh Website – https://www.dofe.org/
Information about Sections – https://www.dofe.org/do/sections/
Ideas for different Activities – https://www.dofe.org/do/ideas/
I look forward to meeting you all soon,
Many Thanks,
Mr Sam Collis
Duke of Edinburgh Lead
Leigh Academy Mascalls
