Duke of Edinburgh award

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Don't know what to do about this as I don't know what's morally correct so would appreciate some advice.

DS in year 9 enrolled in bronze Duke of Edinburgh at the end of the autumn term. We paid a £50 deposit, with £240 due to be paid in instalments nearer the time the practice and qualifying expedition was going to take place. The original letter said that monies were non-refundable. Fair enough, but no-one had considered a pandemic!
He was only looking seriously into getting going with the different sections at the end of Jan/Feb (various reasons- his music teacher left and he had to wait for a replacement so he could carry on with the skills section, only had 2 more lessons with the new one before lockdown, he'd wanted to join a football team for his physical section and had had to join a waiting list, and for the volunteering part, he was going to do parkrun marshalling when the weather was a bit better). All plenty of time to get it all done before September so there wasn't an issue.

Then the lockdown happened, and the practice and qualifying expeditions didn't take place. I assumed that people who had already paid for the rest of it (expedition costs) would be offered a refund, and that people who hadn't yet paid the rest would not be pursued to pay it (this was our situation). But I am getting reminders for overdue payment for the £240.

Where do I stand, do you think? I am loathe to pay for something that he hasn't been able to do and we are already out of pocket with buying all his expedition gear that he will probably have grown out of by the time he gets to go on it. All school have said is that if they carry on doing their other sections before September then they get a 2020 Certificate of Achievement, and if they then do the Silver award next year (which will be ANOTHER few hundred quid) they can use that practice expedition as their Bronze qualifying expedition, thus gaining the full Bronze award.

Really, I think DS should just leave the bronze award now, he has not been able to do the things he wanted to do for the various sections and even though school have suggested alternative lock-down friendly options, in my opinion it's just not the same experience, especially the volunteering part. I would prefer him to just go straight for the Silver one next academic year and I would be happy to pay for that as normal, as long as I'm not pursued for payment for this Bronze one that hasnt' happened as it should have.

Is that being unreasonable? If it helps, the school uses an outside company for the expedition part, but I don't know what costs the school will have already paid for them. I just don't think I should be expected to pay the rest of the costs under these circumstances.

@shazkevincarrotlover that’s not accurate, you can be a direct entrant at silver or gold but you have to spend extra time on some sections
www.dofe.org/do/timescales/

My DD1 is in yr9 and Bronze is compulsory at her school (state grammar). Cost is £185 as they use an external company. She was supposed to be doing her practice expedition right now and her actual one in July. Both have now been moved to October half term (so she will be in yr10).

We have had lots of emails from DofE itself, suggesting different ways to complete the sections - eg helping around the house instead of volunteering at Brownies or wherever.

Scouts are able to charge less as the leaders have all necessary qualifications/skills to hold the expeditions

And the Leaders are volunteers. ie, not getting paid.

@M0mmyneedswine No he hadn't left it too long to complete. Each section is 3 months, with one of them done for a further 3 months. He had until September to do it I think and had probably done his skills section because he'd been having music lessons since the autumn term. He was attending football training for the physical section and started that at end of Jan. The volunteering he had just been about to start = 3 months from March and he would have been finished before they broke up for summer.

@shazkevincarrotlover: that's incorrect. I know for a fact that people can go straight into silver, not having done bronze, as my school don't run bronze at all. They offer Silver to 6th formers and nothing lower down the school. My children's school usually offer Silver in Year 10, and pupils who haven't done bronze can join then. There are different timescales for the activities sections depending on whether you've already completed bronze.

@sadwithkiddies: I'm sure you would be able to get a refund, that is a lot of money to lose. They need to understand that some kids don't want to just make do with fallback activities.

I've spoken to DS and he just is not enthusiastic about finishing it this way. HHe was upset that his football training was stopped as he had only just started after waiting to get a place. Doing just the Silver means he can do his planned activities (hopefully!).

Luckily school have emailed to say that he can pull out and I won't be pursued for the remaining £240 and that I can have my reg fee of £25 refunded. I am going to reply that I don't want the £25 back as I realise they will have had some messing around and will have purchased communal expedition kit so will have incurred SOME costs.

@CoRhona, I think you're probably right about the external company wanting to keep hold of their money. But the external company is only running the expedition part as far as I'm aware so they've got a cheek if they want to keep kids' money for something that never went ahead - not all will want to do the Silver expedition (they have said that the practice expedition for the silver can be their qualifying expedition for their bronze).

Anyway, after triple checking with DS about what he wants to do, he said he just wants to do the Silver with his planned activities.

I hope everyone else gets sorted.

I don’t understand why it all needs to be completed by September? When I did it (admittedly almost 20 years ago) I’m sure you could spend as long as you wanted doing it - I think mine was spaced out well over a year. Is it just that he’d be with children a year younger at school if he does bronze next year?

I think you did used to just go off by yourself. I suspect safeguarding concerns may have meant it’s all got a bit more official. Some schools can offer it very cheaply as teachers kindly give up their free time unpaid to run it - scouts/guides likewise. I expect the schools which use an outside company don’t have any teachers willing to work multiple weekends for free, which is fair enough in my opinion.