Duke of edinborough?

[Theas18]

Youngest is thinking of starting d of e.

Part if me thinks.....bloody hell kid you already take all night to do what you are supposed to..... But the other part thinks " go on then!"

She is already pretty "committed" though I think there will be a way of counting her chorister work within it as voluntary possibly. Then she could do some more sport - maybe junior lifeguard type stuff as her skill which would be truly new and "a good thing " what ever.

I also think sometimes she floats on the outside of friendship groups at school- not really "in " but acquainted with everyone iyswim do it might help that...

What did your children do and how did it fir with gcses etc?

DS1 did Bronze in Y9, but he was already doing a sport that counted, skills was learning a third brass instrument. The volunteering he was able to do at lunchtimes in school for a community project. Now Y11 he still needs to complete the walk though, but there is a date for that in April.

Apart from the navigation practice and the weekly after school meetings it wasn't hugely time consuming.

DD, also Y9 has just started hers. She also has music, recently started piano, but has just given up all physical activities! So it is encouraging her to find something else. No idea what she will do for voluntary at present.

As far as friendship groups go, you do have to work in small groups to plan the expeditions, but I think it will largely depend on the others involved.

Both mine did Bronze. Nearly everyone did it and they did not want to be left out. One quite enjoyed it, the other was so so. They were both at boarding school but volunteering was found for one but not the other. This gave me huge problems as we had to sort it ourselves. It was a major headache and meant a lot of driving for me to collect her and take her back to school afterwards.

If your DD wants to do it, then have a go. No-one cares if you have it or not, by the way. A girl in my DD1s year went on to get Gold D of E but no university offers! She was a scholar too. A few people thrive on it but it does depend how good the organiser is and how helpful.

DD1 did bronze, silver and gold. She loved doing it. She did a variety of things. Having the D of E gold award doesn't in itself get you any university offers (not sure why anyone would think it would tbh). It does mean that you have to learn new skills and try things out which otherwise you may not.
OP have a look with your DD on the D of E website. It's a great source of information as to the things she could get involved with. DD1 was also very committed to other things but she was able to use some of those towards the award just by getting a bit more involved.

ds did Bronze in year 10 and is currently doing Silver. I doubt he will do Gold but maybe in a few years' time . It has certainly tested his comfort zone, found him a niche of friends and has been perceived by others as good for him . In terms of time it takes , this year has been easier logistically than last ironically. He does his volunteering via school, his skill as his instrument and physical, swimming at local pool .

Thanks all. That's really helpful. My feeling is probably she doesn't really have the time but I think if she's keen she can see how she gets on. She's not the sort to let school work drop even a smidge so I'm not worried about that. I shall make sure that if there is chasing /arranging to do she does it because actually that's a real life skill that kids don't generally get on top of for ages, and unlike most things they are "suddenly" expected to do by themselves (eg UCAS/uni chasing/questioning etc) the world wont collapse if it doesn't work out.

One child on her gold, another looking to start.

If she's keen then definitely let her do it - why not ?

Interestingly a lot of her friends struggled on the expedition - but we are quite an outdoorsy family so it was a breeze for her.

DS does his through Explorers - it fits in perfectly fine with his Highers, and he loves it (but we walk/camp a bit anyway)

Btw - it's Edinburgh, not borough!!

While it may not help with uni, friend's daughter got a weekend/holiday job because of it on her CV. But commitment to any interest would probably have done.

DS friend helps with a junior wind band for volunteering.

While it may not help with uni, friend's daughter got a weekend/holiday job because of it on her CV. But commitment to any interest would probably have done.

DS friend helps with a junior wind band for volunteering.

Raspberry lemon that's an interesting volunteering idea... Hm...

Yes, I thought it might appeal to you!

DD2 did Bronze in year 9- it was a compulsory part of their PE curriculum.

She was already volunteering at her dance school so that was easy and does loads of different music and performing arts classes so that was easy too for the skills part.

The camping, cooking and maps skills stuff was all covered at school and they had a practice then a proper camping + expedition (which she hated!- not exactly the outdoors type.)

She had the opportunity to do the silver this year as an extra curricular club but would rather stick pins in her eyes than tromp round muddy fields and sleep outside with creepy crawlies decided not to take it up.

DS has volunteered at a charity shop for that section. He's doing an hour's expedition training after school each week but he's not settled on the skills and physical sections yet.