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The Willink

Bronze Award Duke of Edinburgh

Bronze Award Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is the world’s leading achievement award for young people. At The Willink we launch the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award in Year 9 through their tutors and in an assembly at the start of the autumn term. It is open to all Year 9 students interested in the scheme. 

About The Bronze Award

The Bronze Award is made up of the following sections: 

  • Volunteering - 3 months
  • Physical - 3 months
  • Skills - 3 Months
  • Expedition - 2 Days, 1 Night
  • Plus a further 3 months in either the Volunteering, Physical or Skills sections

The Bronze expedition is 2 days and 1 night with 6 hours of planned activity each day, at least 3 hours must be spent travelling; there will be extensive training, route planning, a practice expedition and assessed expedition. The Expedition has been outsourced to BXM expeditions; the cost of the Training and Expedition package is detailed below.

Duke of Edinburgh run Information Sessions and we recommend you attend one of these.  Virtual Information Sessions 2024, run by Duke of Edinburgh, are as follows:

In addition, these links are provided by Duke of Edinburgh to introduce the Bronze Award:

For Parents:

For Students:

Bronze Award Willink Registration Process (2024-25)

Year 9 students can start their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award by completing the enrolment form available on the school website, returning it to the main office, and paying £75 via Scopay (ref. D of E Bronze 2024/25). If you do not have a Scopay account, please contact the Finance office for a link code. Please submit the form and payment by 18 October 2024.

Once we have received the form, an eDofE account will be set up and the username and password for this will be sent to the email which is on the consent form. The young person will need to login to their account, change the password, and choose how long to commit to each section: Volunteering, Physical, Skills, and Expedition. Each section requires one hour a week, with one lasting 6 months and the others 3 months (this could be 2 half hours weekly, 2 hours fortnightly or a day a month). They also have a minimum timeframe. One of these 3 sections must be followed over a 6 month period, the other 2 over a 3 month period. The young person chooses the timeframe, what they will do in each section and what their aims are. They do not have to do all 3 at the same time. 

Please see the Launch letter for further information.

Bronze Award Costs Through The Willink (2024-2025)

The total cost of the Bronze award is £270 and details of the payment schedule are below. Payments can be made via Scopay.

Should you wish to discuss possible payment options or believe your child would be entitled to funding towards this visit, please contact the finance office at finance@willink.w-berks.sch.uk to discuss. There is funding that can be applied for from the DofE award organisation and most kit and equipment can be borrowed from our school stock so, please, do not allow finance to be the barrier to your young person beginning the award. We will also be asking for medical and Next of Kin information via our EVOLVE+ system.

Payment Schedule

  • First deposit (non-refundable)            £114 payable by 18 October 2024
  • Interim payment – Practice exped     £78 payable by 2 March 2025
  • Final Balance  - Qualifying exped        £78 payable by 2 April 2025

Bronze Award: Important Dates

  • Bronze Practice – 21 and 22 June 2025                          
  • Bronze Qualifying – 16 and 17 July 2025

Please note that there may end up being a clash of dates with the Paris visit. As such, any student that signs up for DofE Bronze will attend the first two days of the silver qualifying expedition (2nd, 3rd and 4th of July 2025)

Useful Documents

Duke of Edinburgh Enrolment Form (PDF)

Duke of Edinburgh Enrolment Form (Word Document)

Kit List

Bronze Award – Spare Assessors Cards