Duke of Edinburgh Students head to Buckingham Palace

The Duke of Edinburgh programme is a life-changing experience. A fun time with friends. An opportunity to discover new interests and talents. A tool to develop essential skills for life and work. A recognised mark of achievement.

14-24 year olds can do a DofE programme at one of three progressive levels which, when successfully completed, leads to a Bronze, Silver or Gold DofE Award.

There are four sections to complete at Bronze and Silver level and five at Gold. They involve helping the community/environment, becoming fitter, developing new skills, planning, training for and completing an expedition and, for Gold only, working with a team on a residential activity.

Achieving an award isn’t a competition or about being first; it’s all about setting personal challenges and pushing personal boundaries.  Through a DofE programme young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life.

Earlier this month, Arabella Y13 and Matthew a former Student of Finborough, had the amazing opportunity to attend a celebration of their DofE Gold achievements with Prince Edward at Buckingham Palace.  The pair were joined on the day by Tom Donald’s, Matthew’s Father who is heavily involved in the Finborough DofE programme; and also, Emily, who joined the Finborough DofE to complete her Gold.

Arabella started working on her DofE awards before joining Finborough and continued onto her Gold after joining.  For her Gold Arabella hiked in the Peak District; she joined a group of young people who she had not met before, and worked with them to complete a challenging 4-day hiking expedition in the Peak District. 

Matthew started working on his DofE awards as a member of the UK scout association and transitioned to Finborough School’s DofE programme during the covid pandemic.  For his Gold expedition, he paddled 120km over 5 days in a patrol of 6 on the River Severn in England.  They wild camped on the side of the river and navigated some challenging rapids on the river.

It has been an amazing adventure for the all students involved in the DofE programme and we look forward to the next round.