The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award helps young people build life-long belief in themselves, supporting them to take on their own challenges, follow their passions, and discover talents they never knew they had. There are different levels available, and we currently have several students at both Brocks and The Lighthouse who are undertaking their Bronze Award.
Doing DofE Bronze helps young people to develop communication, leadership and teamwork skills, and increase their confidence. It also makes a real difference to other people’s lives and their community. The Bronze Award is split into four sections:
- Volunteering section: 3 months
- Physical section: 3 months
- Skills section: 3 months
- Expedition section: 2 days/1 night
Our students have just completed their Expedition and have been working towards their Volunteering section over the past three months.
Two students helped out at T.H.A.T Foodbank in Newton Abbot, putting together food parcels, sorting donations and stocking shelves. Their work was really valued and the team there said how much they loved having them.
Two other students worked weekly at Lakemoor Alpaca Farm, where they fed the herd of Alpaca according to varying dietary requirements. They also completed lead-rein walk training, picked up the poo from the paddocks, fed the goats, geese and ponies, and collected chicken eggs.
These four students have spent a total of 78 hours volunteering with a social value of £375 – a really wonderful achievement and we couldn’t be more proud of them.
More recently, staff accompanied five students on their Bronze DofE expedition walking along the Templer Way and around the Heritage Trail / Stover Lake, over two days. This was a new venture for Breakthrough but one that the students hugely enjoyed, with some already thinking about a possible Silver award next year! All students involved completed the expedition in such good spirits and deserve to be congratulated accordingly.
For the two students from Brocks this means they have now completed all the necessary sections to be awarded the full Bronze certificate, once the DofE paperwork is completed which is a huge achievement. We know it won’t be long before The Lighthouse students complete their remaining sections too.
