The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a programme of challenging activities for pupils aged 14-25. It offers an individual challenge and encourages young people to undertake exciting, constructive and enjoyable activities.

At Thetford Grammar School, pupils in Year 10 and above have the chance to complete the 3 awards:
Bronze, Silver and Gold. It takes at least 6 months to complete a Bronze award, 12 for Silver and 18 for Gold.
To complete each award pupils must choose one activity from each of the 4 areas:

• Volunteering – encourages service to individuals and the community e.g. life-saving, first aid or animal welfare
• Skills – encourages discovery and development of personal interests and social and practical skills e.g. musical instrument, drama, choir, drawing or horse handling
• Physical recreation – encourages participation and improvement in a team sport, yoga, swimming, sailing etc.
• Expedition – to encourage the spirit of adventure and discovery and to learn skills such as map reading, using a compass, camping and cooking skills. It may also be undertaken on a bicycle, in a boat or on a horse if suitable instructors and assessors can be found.

The Gold Award

The Gold Award requires a Residential Project, an enterprise with people not known to
the participant.

In taking part they develop:

• self-belief and self-confidence
• independence of thought and action
• a sense of responsibility
• an awareness of their potential
• new talents and abilities
• the ability to plan and use time effectively
• the ability to learn from and give to others in the community
• new relationships
• skills including problem-solving, presentation and communication
• team and leadership skills

Most of Year 10 usually take up the challenge of the Bronze Award and many then want to continue to enroll onto the Silver Award in Year 11 and then go onto Gold in the Sixth Form.