Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award 2025/26
Is your Son or Daughter ready to take on their most rewarding challenge yet — one that builds resilience, independence, leadership, and lifelong memories? If so, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award offers an exceptional opportunity for personal development at the highest level.
The Gold Award is an ambitious and highly respected programme that encourages young people to set long-term goals, work steadily towards them, and celebrate their success. It provides a powerful platform to:
Build confidence and independence: by facing demanding challenges and taking responsibility for their own progress.
Develop valuable life and leadership skills: such as teamwork, communication, organisation, and problem-solving.
Make a real impact in their community: through meaningful volunteering and service.
Experience an unforgettable adventure: during the multi-day expedition and the unique Gold Residential.
Last year, our DofE cohort delivered community support at events such as the Paddock Wood Half Marathon, contributed to the Paddock Wood Food Bank, and assisted with a range of local initiatives — experiences that were both enjoyable and hugely beneficial. Our Gold Students will this year take a leading role in finding and organising such events.
Who Can Take Part
The Gold Award is open to all students in Year 12, whether or not they have previously completed the Bronze or Silver Awards.
● For those who completed Silver, Gold is the natural next step.
● For those joining at Gold for the first time, additional guidance and support will be provided — no previous DofE experience is required, but a commitment to the longer timescales is essential. Gold participants complete five sections, each designed to foster responsibility, initiative, and personal growth:
1. Volunteering
Students give their time to support others and make a sustained contribution to their community. This might include helping at local charities, mentoring younger students, supporting sports clubs, or assisting vulnerable or elderly residents.
2. Physical Activity
This section focuses on improving health and fitness through regular physical activity. Participants can choose a sport or activity they enjoy — from team games to gym training, dance, martial arts, running, or walking.
3. Skills
Students choose a skill to develop consistently over time. This could involve:
● learning a musical instrument
● developing cooking or baking skills
● gaining IT or creative skills
● working towards a qualification
● or any hobby that allows for measurable progress Progress is recorded on the DofE app, and each section is completed with an Assessor Report.
4. Expedition
The Gold expedition is a demanding and memorable journey that requires preparation, teamwork, determination, and resilience.
Gold participants complete:
● a training period and practice expedition, in July of this year (08/07-12/07) we will venture out for our first Gold expedition to Abergavenney and spend the week climbing the hills of the Welsh Border.
● a five-day, four-night assessed expedition in wild or remote terrain will be organised for July of 2027. This will act as this cohort’s Assessed Expedition and also next year’s Year 12’s Practice expedition.
The experience challenges students mentally and physically, encouraging independence and effective teamwork in a remote environment. It will take you at least 12 months/52 weeks for Gold if you’ve already achieved your Silver. If you have not done your Silver, even if you did Bronze, it will take at least 18 months/78 weeks. The big difference at Gold is you will also do a Residential section with people you do not know. Volunteering: 12 months/52 weeks
Physical and Skills: One section for 12 months/52 weeks and the other section for 6 months/26 weeks Expedition: 4 days/3 nights Residential: Do a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights
If you did not do Silver, you need to do an extra 6 months of either Volunteering or the longer of the Physical or Skills section. This means your longest section will take you 18 months/78 weeks.
5. Residential
Unique to the Gold Award, the Residential requires students to spend five consecutive days (four nights) away from home, taking part in a shared activity with people they do not already know.
Examples include:
● adventure courses
● conservation projects
● leadership programmes
● outdoor centres
● university taster courses
● volunteering holidays
This is often cited as one of the most transformative parts of the Gold Award.
Costs
In the spirit of openness, I have laid out as clearly as I can the costings for this year’s Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award,
● £37.50 enrolment fee: paid directly to the DofE charity, securing access to the Gold programme and the eDofE system. This fee is a non-refundable deposit to secure your child’s place on the Award.
● £440 expedition fee: paid to BXM Expeditions, who provide all training, camping and cooking equipment, campsite fees, insurance, and experienced staff throughout the Gold expedition programme. This includes the Practice Expedition in Year 12 and the Assessed Expedition in Year 13.
● £22.50 school DofE budget contribution: supports school DofE resources, DofE events, emergency equipment, and anything unexpected whilst out on expeditions.
The total cost at this stage is £500. It is important to note that this figure does not represent the full cost of the Award. We are currently gauging interest, after which we will determine the most cost-effective travel options for each expedition. Once these travel costs have been confirmed, we will share the full pricing with you.
The prices listed above will remain the same; however, please be aware that the overall cost will increase once travel is included. At that point, we will also confirm which students wish to continue with the Award.
Please also note that the Residential section of the Award carries an additional cost. This element will be arranged and paid for separately by students and their families, though we will, of course, provide as much support as we can throughout the process. A large part of the Gold Award is fundraising and our students and us will organise events during the year to also contribute towards these costs.
If covering the full cost is a concern, please contact me to discuss available support — we want every eligible student to have the opportunity to participate. You can reach me confidentially at dofe@mascalls.latrust.org.uk.
What Happens Next
If your child is interested, please complete the attached Google Form to register your interest. Once we have confirmed numbers, we will organise a Parents Information for you to attend, this will be a vital opportunity to hear in more detail what the Award entails and hear from our partners at the DofE and BXM Expeditions. After this, payment instructions for the £37.50 deposit (via Scopay) will be sent out to secure your child’s place. At this point we will have a set number of students looking to participate and can look to organise transport in the most cost effective way, estimates will be given at the Parents Information Evening.
We strongly encourage all Year 12 students seeking challenge, growth, and new experiences to consider joining this year’s Gold cohort.
Useful Links
Duke of Edinburgh Website – https://www.dofe.org/
Information about Sections – https://www.dofe.org/do/timescales/
Gold Residential Guidance – https://www.dofe.org/do/residential/
I look forward to meeting you all soon,
Yours faithfully
Mr Sam Collis
Duke of Edinburgh Lead
