St Helen’s School is the largest centre for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Oxfordshire with over 400 girls taking part at various levels. It is offered from Year 9 upwards. In recent years over 90% of Year 9 girls chose to take up the award; about 50% of those who start go on to achieve Silver. Many pursue the highest level - Gold. The Award is a challenging programme of activities enabling girls to learn new skills, help others and experience adventure. It provides a great sense of achievement for those taking part and many universities and employers have a positive attitude to holders of the Award as it shows the ability to meet challenges, both independently and in groups.
One of the most important and challenging aspects of the award is the hiking trip with overnight camp, planned and executed in small groups.
At Bronze level it is a two day walk with an overnight camp. At Silver this increases to three days and two nights and at Gold it is a four day walk with three nights camp. A great sense of comraderie develops, making the difficulties that inevitably arise (getting lost, having maps blow under a herd of cows, rain) fun challenges to be dealt with as a team. Three members of staff are available to support and guide the girls through their Award.
Girls can expect to increase their:
All of which are valuable life skills. To find out more about the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme visit www.dofe.org