Duke of Edinburgh skills and volunteering ideas? What did you do do?

[Wupity]

just Looking for some ideas for this. My dc doesn’t learn a musical instrument and we don’t want to start lessons just for this. So not sure which skill we could do. He likes outdoorsy stuff and scouts type activities.

for volunteering I am thinking about maybe getting him to ask the local junior parkrun to ask if he could volunteer regularly there. Or he could volunteer at the local beaver group.

just wondered if anyone else had some other ideas their dc did

duke of Edinburgh is something he really wants to do. I know it isn’t rated highly on cv but he just wants to do it

DD volunteered at a local Brownies group and fortunately she did learn an instrument so that helped the skill.

My DH coaches a youth football team and they often take DoE as volunteers there.

It's hard to think of stuff but there are some skills ideas here that are quite good https://www.dofe.org/dofewithadifference/activities/skills/

My friend's son did breadmaking. He did it all at home, with all his efforts eaten by/tasted by a neighbour. He really progressed over the course of 12 weeks.

Parkrun is great for volunteering, but I think it is very over subscribed (it's a nice easy option for DoE, so I think most parkruns have a waiting list).

I did Brownies for mine, but lots of my friends worked at a local activity centre.

Charity shop for volunteering? My son has decided he’s going to cook for his skill.

Thanks for replies. We used to run the junior parkrun when they were little and they always seemed short of volunteers so I think we would hopefully be ok there. But it’s just asking someone there to sign all his forms for it. Not sure if they would mind that or how much work it is.

I quite like the idea of for instance bread making at home. But it is finding a non family member to be the assessor that is the tricky part I suppose

His school cookery teacher would be his assessor I'm sure. DS did cooking as his skill, he just made our tea once a week, I took photos and we sent them off to his cookery teacher.

Have a look at what after school clubs there are available aswell eg chess club. That would fulfill the skills element.

Thanks. I do t think he does cookery at school any more. I wonder if a form teacher could do it

Volunteering she is going to be a Young Warden at our local wildlife reserve, they have a specific set up for DoE

Physical will be her rugby training

Skill she's going to music club after school to practise piano and to get signed off by her music teacher.

My ds is also outdoorsy, and involved in shooting etc.
Sport - shooting - had lessons at the local clay shooting centre and charted progress with certificates in gun safety etc. Signed off by tutor.
Volunteering - helping our local shoot by rearing a pen of pheasants and managing them once they were put on the ground. Signed off by gamekeeper.
Skill was music lessons showing progress up to passing the next grade, which I know yours isn't bothered about.
If he is outdoorsy what about joining a ranger group and learning about countryside management skills, or outdoor survival skills? He could learn to fish or shoot (which could either be a sport or skill). If he is in Scouts you could ask the Scout leader if there is anything on the Scouting program that would tie in with DofE.

Also, if you live in the right sort of area your ds could join a local young farmers group. It's a really good networking group, and they have the opportunity to sign up to different skills and sports such as public speaking, stock judging, tug of war, rugby, even flower arranging. They have annual district rallies, which are very competitive, and the categories include those above mentioned, as well as pretty much everything you would see at a country fair. To learn the skill and present it at a rally would be amazing.

Bronze:
Skill - taught himself a computer graphics program and created a series of transport related images. Assessed by the computer teacher at school.
Sport - running. Used strata to track and the PE teacher at school signed it off.
Volunteer - helped out at a Y7 computing club at school - signed off by the teacher leading it.

Silver:
Volunteering - litter picking. Made a couple of pre arranged sessions, and now has kit and is collecting and photographing evidence. To be signed off by the group organizer.
Skill - existing music (because he needs any easy one)
Sport - wants to do climbing, but not progressed anything yet.

If school has a cookery teacher, I'm sure they will sign it off even if he no longer has lessons. Otherwise, a DT or tech teacher might be better than his form tutor - but there is no harm in asking.

For the skills section, there are free courses on the DoE website, my DS completed his St John’s Ambulance course but admittedly that was some time back - hopefully this link helps/works:
https://www.dofe.org/opportunity-finder/article/st-john-ambulance-first-aid-self-teach-workbook-online-skills/

ds's school doesn't do DOfE Bronze until 5th/6th year so they are 17-18 by the time they do it. ds took it just because his friend were and the school make it easy for them all - he did his driving lessons as his skill, some community club at the school for his volunteering, and used his footie for his physical and his PE teacher signed for it. He did enjoy the expedition though even though it rained heavily the whole time!!

He wasn't interest in doing the Silver and never mentioned the Bronze on his Uni applications last year because there was nothing in it related to the course he was applying for and the PS words are so limited. Think it might be on his CV, but he has only had PT while at school/uni and not sure he even put his CV into them.

Oh the first aid one looks really good. He was wanting to do first aid

Skills DS came to my work. I’m in engineering.

Volunteering was at the local cat and dog home.

my dd cleared weeds from the local graveyard (with consent from the church)

Has he looked for opportunities and hit a block or is he leaving it up to you to sort it out for him? Organising, planning researching and asking around is surely part of what the young person should be doing? Sorry I know you’ll think I’m being rude - but I honestly believe expecting kids to sort this out - with guidance if/when needed allows them to gain more from the challenge.

I volunteered with St John Ambulance back in the day (almost 20 years ago now, doesn't bear thinking about!) I did my DofE with them too as I didn't fancy doing it at school.

I took up Ice Skating for my skill. It was not my strong suit.

DD learned to crochet for her skill and did litter picking for a small local countryside/ environmental charity for volunteering.

I disagree with @ReviewingTheSituation Most parkruns and junior parkruns are desperate for volunteers and put out regular appeals for help. Knowing that you'll have a volunteer who will turn up for 12 weeks is a huge relief.

My DD learned British Sign Language at an evening class. And a few years later that helped get her a job!

Mine volunteers with Scouts and plays the viola

I did driving for my skill, but that was for gold (partly because of age.) For volunteering, I did lifesaving and then swimming teaching, but our DofE group was started through swimming club, so there was a lot of support for it. Paid nicely for part time work through uni though.

Dd has just started her bronze award and finding a volunteering place has been tricky as she is still 13 and will be all the way through. She's finally found something but there were waiting lists for junior parkrun etc.

For skills she is doing a creative writing course and her English teacher is signing it off for her.

Could you possibly pass me the details of the English writing course @mewkins ? Ds enjoys creative writing so might try this

Climbing is a good skill ax you can easily show progression.

DS did his volunteering in a local Charity shop.