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Welcome to the Dundee Open DofE group Dundee Open Award Unit, Volunteering, Skills, Physical, Expeditions, Residential Project This section is dedicated to parents, offering an introduction to the Award and our activities If it doesn't answer your questions - please contact us. The Duke of Edinburgh Award.....The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a voluntary, non-competitive and flexible programme of cultural and adventurous activities for all young people, whatever their background or ability. The Award is a four section programme with three levels:
The sections involve:
It typically takes a participant between 6-12 months to complete a Bronze Award; 12-18 months for a Silver Award and 18-24 months for a Gold Award. It may take less time for completion of the Silver or Gold Awards if the participant holds the preceding Award. All Awards must be completed by the participant's 25th birthday more details of the Award can be found on the national website www.theaward.org Isn't quite like other units spread around the country in that we don't have one location from which we operate. Our activities generally take place in either The Shore or the Ancrum Outdoor Centre. Throughout Dundee most of the secondary schools offer the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award to their pupils. But for some participants this isn't suitable. It may be that the schools programme of activities doesn't suit their particular requirements or is oversubscribed. The Open Award Unit tries to offer a solution for anyone who approaches us. We are heavily constrained by the capacity of our volunteers, but in most cases our in-house activity courses are only taken up by a small proportion of the participants on our books. For those pursuing activities elsewhere we provide support by offering advice and accreditation for their efforts. The Open Award Unit is an accredited Unit for the operation of the Award and operates under Dundee City Council as operating authority. The unit receives no regular financial support for its activities or courses and relies upon contributions from participants, fundraising activities and occasional grant aid. The "staff" are largely comprised of regular committed volunteers. If you can assist us in any way please do contact us, or consider becoming a volunteer yourself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PARTICIPANT ACTIVITIES The aims of the Volunteering section is that it provides an opportunity to:
Volunteering applies to any activity that helps communities, individuals or groups. For example Your child could become involved in an environmental project, work with older people or young children or other children, or help out at a place of worship. The general expectation is for a regular commitment over that time of around an hour per week. There is flexibility to break that period to accommodate exams etc or where the service involves a specific course. If in doubt - contact us for advice. For more details of timescales and conditions please contact us or visit the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award Website ---------- The Skill section provides an opportunity to:
Activities include hobbies, developing new skills or interests. For example this can include learning to drive, learning a language* or developing artistic skills such as music, drawing or acting The general expectation is for a regular commitment over that time of around an hour per week. There is flexibility to break that period to accommodate exams etc or where the service involves a specific course. If in doubt - contact us for advice. * Learning languages as part of a school curriculum is not possible - the activity should be undertaken as a spare time activity. For more details of timescales and conditions please contact us or visit the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award Website -------------- Provides the opportunity to
Activities involve anything that involves exercise, including dance, sport or fitness activities. though most participants do this as a member of a club or association this is not essential and can be undertaken independently. The general expectation is for a regular commitment over that time of around an hour per week. There is flexibility to break that period to accommodate exams etc or where the activity involves a specific course, though success for the Award is measured on attendance and improvement in the chosen activity, not on gaining a specific standard. If in doubt - contact us for advice. For more details of timescales and conditions please contact us or visit the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award Website ------------------ To many people the expedition section is the most memorable section of the Award. For us its the section that involves the largest demand on our time and effort. At all levels of the Award, participants are required to undertake two ventures, one training venture and one assessment venture. Two is the minimum, occasionally we may add in more training if the participants are finding it difficult. The scale of the ventures changes at each level of the award: Bronze - a two day venture with one overnight camp Silver - a three day venture with two overnight camps Gold - a four day venture with three overnight camps
All trips require that the participants are fully self sufficient for the entire duration of the trip. The standard venture involves a walking journey (measured in hours, but typically bronze around 15-20miles, Silver 30-40miles, Gold 50-60miles). In addition participants must also undertake some form of survey whilst on their venture, simply completing the distance is not sufficient. Some key points about the ventures worth remembering:
1. All ventures are physically demanding. Time and time again we have to deal with participants who are physically unfit - participation in school PE lessons is in itself in no way sufficient to prepare participants for the ventures. Participants MUST make additional efforts to improve their fitness before embarking on ventures.
2. Assessment ventures are like exams. The participants are assessed on how well they achieve the venture's aims. As much as we want them to pass, they have to accept responsibility for their own actions on the trip. If a participant is not confident, they need to tell us before the venture so we can spend some extra time with them to prepare them further. There is however no such thing as a fail in the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award - they will get the chance to do it again.
3. Ventures do involve risk. Although qualified leaders will be on the venture, they wont be present at all times. Participants need to act sensibly and be responsible for their own actions. It is very important that we are told about any medical condition affecting a participant (for example: almost every year somebody forgets to tell us about having asthma!). Some details about leaders can be found here
4. Trips are heavily oversubscribed. There are far more participants wanting to undertake ventures than we have space for. If you cancel your place then we will try to find an alternative, but this is in no way guaranteed and usually involves being put on a waiting list - which can involve waits of up to a year or more. If you have any doubts about the suitability of dates, contact us straight away.
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** For Gold Award Only ** The aims of the residential project are:
During the residential project, participants undertake a shared activity, whether through voluntary service or training, in a residential setting away from home and in an unfamiliar environment. The project should take place over at least five consecutive days with at least four nights spent away. Residential settings may typically be centres, youth hostels, sailing ships or camps. Participants should work on projects individually, or only a small majority of those taking part should be known to the participant. |
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