To be frustrated by DofE requirements

[Frenchcremefraiche]

My daughter has just turned 15 and is trying to complete (well, START tbh!) her Bronze DofE.

On paper it's fine: learn something and do some volunteering.

In reality it's really, really hard! All suggestions appreciated!

There are so many exclusions to the skill requirement. She doesnt get home from school until 6 which limits evenings. Not that there are many lessons/groups after school anyway. Then there are so few activities that count as a skill on the weekend. Anything vaguely "sporty" doesnt count as a skill even if it's something she's never done before and is going to classes to learn it (eg ice skating). She's been doing online guitar lessons but because she started those before DofE, they dont count. There is a minimum hours requirement and Ive found a few in person classes but they arent long enough. It needs to be something in person because it needs to be signed off so teaching herself or doing something at home wont count.

Then volunteering, because of her age, very few places can help. Any informal groups that are willing to take her want a parent present because they cant take responsibility for her / arent DBS checked etc which I get but obviously she doesnt want me hanging about. It has to be a regular thing so she cant organise eg an afternoon litter pick. Plus she needs someone to sign it off anyway. She looked at helping at a local beaver/scout group but one said no and the other has her ex boyfriend helping so she said no. In her naive 15year old way she wont help at brownies because they are "sexist".

Any suggestions on what she can do? She's on the verge of having to quit because she cant meet the requirements.

My son has just started bronze DoE too.

He has also recently started online lessons for the guitar - he spoke to school and got his music teacher to agree to assess him regularly for DoE - no issue.

I volunteered at a care home for my own DoE and it was the best, most humbling work experience I’ve ever done. Charity shops often offer these kind of ad hoc placements - (I’m also a charity worker) - our youngest registered volunteer is 4!

Exactly this. Surely a 15 year old can figure out how to get there.

My son is learning piano and it has been judged to count. Volunteering at parkrun-who have another boy doing D of E there too. His friend is working at the library.

E.g. https://www.barnardos.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/dofe#:~:text=If%20you%20are%2014+%2C%20you,What%20next?

There are others too.

“Maybe she do more hours each session to get the hours in over less weeks”
@Talkingfrog Over less weeks is not allowed under D of E. it is about showing up week after week.

My son has done his d of e and did guitar for his skill, he’d been learning it for 6 years prior. As long as they progress in the skill ( he passed his grade 5 exam at the end of the 6 months period) and have an assessor it’s fine?! My son also did press ups for the physical, literally 1 min of press ups and then 3 months later did more press ups in 1 min. His volunteering was 13 hours of litter picking.

Our Local park run are always wanting volunteers aswell.

This is about 20 years ago but I did my volunteering element in a charity shop - in the stock room doing sorting as I wasn’t able to be on the shop floor.

My daughter is 13 and she is doing her bronze. Her skill is baking, she is following a free online course and we get a sweet treat each week! Her activity is riding her horse, which she needs to do anyway, she has an app that records her time spent in the saddle. Her volunteering is helping out at a local riding school, she does 3 hours per week one morning on the weekend.
I think a lot of her friends have struggled with the volunteering, some are walking neighbours dogs!

@BlueSlate my DC have done the same skill all the way through.. (as did I a million years ago). They had so set more advanced goals each time, but it was the same thing.

Goodness know why i both quoted you and tagged you. It has been a long day.

Try some other beaver groups and get in touch with the District beaver lead. We always had someone from DofE in the 10 years I was a leader so they do definitely take them as young leaders for their volunteering commitment.

Our litter picking wasn’t weekly either because he went to his dads every other weekend. He did 2 hours fortnightly. 1 session with the pickers and 1 with me where I documented the route and times and sent pics as evidence. The assessor was fine with that.
i think maybe you’re listening too much to the rules and seeing barriers where they aren’t there. Also he wasn’t physically there when his things were signed off, it was online! So the assessors just logged in and said he’d done it and that was it.

I'd double check some of these requirements. My daughter did piano as her bronze skill and now doing for silver. She did it for years before d of e.

When she was deciding what to do for sport, I asked about things which weren't a 'class' and the leader running d of e said it could be signed iff by anyone who wasn't a relative, if they saw evidence she was doing it, so ab explorer s out leader could have signed off swimming / running if she kept a diary, or a family friend who went to same gym etc. We didn't need to do that in the end as she went to a class, but if that was correct I assume it could work for a skill if there was photos, screenshots etc?

Maybe she's too busy to do it with the long school day though, it's not compulsory?

My son completed his bronze 2 years ago. His teacher set up a chess club after school, which a lot of his group used as their skill. He would never admit it, but I think he quite enjoyed it. A lot volunteered at charity shops, park run and my son was already a young leader at Beavers after finishing scouts. I have to say though, he did this all off his own back and I think the whole experience did help him to mature. Good luck xx

Do you have a care home nearby where she could go for couple hours on weekend serving tea, chatting with residents?

My daughter volunteered at park run, they are always in need of help. All done and dusted by 10am on a Saturday and a friendly bunch who really helped boost her confidence

My sons piano lessons counted towards his bronze medal and he volunteered at a local b&b helping in the garden etc, and at 15 I’d leave your daughter to sort it out or not do it, she’s old enough to look into it and problem solve!

Surely if school goes on til late they have lunchtime clubs? I cannot believe there are no opportunities to volunteer at school; especially if they have a D of E cohort. Has she asked her form tutor or the D of E coordinator?

I haven't read what the requirements for D of E are. Just a thought that if it was based on total number of hours they may have been able to be done in a shorter time frame. Sounds as if they can't.

And another daughter helped at the local primary school in their languages club after school once a week. Son played games with residents in a care home at weekends

My son completed his bronze last year. I think he did his Martial Arts as his physical (already did it) then he volunteered each week with the younger group at Martial Arts for his volunteering - which he loved. For skills he did an online cookery course with Three Peas -

Sports- both girls joined an evening club, they are not sporty but gave it a go

My son did a musical instrument he had already been learning, they didn’t mind. You just have to have it signed off that they’ve made progress.

My nephew volunteered at Parkrun for his.

What about cookery?

She could design, cook and serve a 3 course meal as well as design a menu on the computer, lay the table and do the washing up afterwards. You could photo each step for evidence.

you could get a neighbour or someone from the school to sign off that she did all the hard work.