Cost of DofE Silver

[Sabdav11Plus]

Hello. I would like to learn how much other schools charge for their Silver DofE package? I don’t recall the cost of bronze but the recent Sign Up for Silver appeal at DD’s school came with a £560 price tag. That seems very high to me.

That's insane! We paid nothing at our school for bronze or silver (Scotland)

Skip silver and go straight for gold.

Thats what my DS did after bronze. Gold did come to over 1k for us with the residential and other stuff.

Another massive inequality - what chance have the majority of kids doing those DoE awards? Which are very valuable with all sorts os school of Uni application, jobs, etc,

DS did all his at no cost with the sea cadets.

The cost is mainly the expeditions and whether the school have suitably qualified staff to run them or need to buy that in.

Ours is £35 to sign up, expedition will be £50. Our school have qualified D of E staff though.

DS is doing his through the Cadets... £10.- monthly... we paid similar for DD's sports per lesson!
All uniform and many activities are free.

Some you pay, but it's usually under £20.-

£28 to sign up for Bronze and the expedition is going to be around £250.

The cost will be because the school is doing it through a company who runs it. Dd's bronze cost very little but she did it through scouts, so it was just the sign up and a small cost for the expedition. She's skipping sliver and going straight to gold with college as can't currently do it with scouts so it's costing around £500 as they don't have the experienced staff and have to pay a company to do it.

Many (many, many, many) years ago I was a DoE supervisor and assessor with sea cadets. I've no idea now how much it cost, and not is it relevant now, but I would urge any/all youngsters to get involved.
It's all good fun, gives them a sense of team work and self esteem. They'll learn skills that they can (and will) call on all of their lives.
That said, £560 is a ridiculous price. Try other organisations. (Try DoE directly as well)
I'm not sure if you can go from Bronze straight to Gold (there is/was a big jump at each stage - especially Silver to Gold). In my time you had to go through each step. Maybe things have changed now though?
Hope you find somewhere, your daughter or son will thank you for it over and again.

About £80 for bronze, same for silver and gold. School loan backpacks, sleeping bags and mats for those who need them, only charge if they get damaged and all shared camping equipment is provided. We ended up buying the things we needed individually as it will do two children all 3 levels and has been used at a festival. The residential you need to do for gold was the most expensive thing for us as organised out of school but I think there are cheaper options.

It was £650 at DD’s school! Still yet to find out where all of that money actually went to considering most of the other schools around us charge little to nothing.. £650 per child in a group of 30 was absolute extortion and they have to have made a huge profit somewhere along the lines. When I added up the rest of the kit that we had to buy it mounted up to over £1000..

This was 2019/20 so no doubt the price would be even worse now

Just signed up DD: £50 for practice plus £50 for assessed expeditions.

£650 is just taking the piss and I would ask them how they came up with that figure when it should be £150 tops.

a) Bronze and Silver aren't given a 2nd glance on job or University applications
b) If you are a Scout / Guide / Cadet / in the BB or GB, you can do awards for the cost of signing up to the scheme, plus the cost of things like campsite fees and food.

Everyone can access that.

The school will likely be buying in a company, who will need to pay staff to supervise across all the expeditions, unlike the volunteers in all the Youth organisations.

Ds doing currently through scouts, has cost the sign up fee, around £30 and that's it, your costs are insane

DD's cost £140 for silver including everything.

£565 at our school (just had the letter). Fortunately DS doesn't want to do it.

£130 for registration, expeditions and kit loan through school.

Cadets is (much) cheaper, but a bit less organized with giving dates, making organization a bit tougher.

They really are not valuable and universities don’t give it a second glance considering the amount of kids who do DofE. It’s nothing special

Did my for free with Air cadets, counted as my sport and volunteering AND they lent me all the equipment for free.

No one has ever given a shit about my DofE bronze though

Around £550 for silver at DD2s school. She's already talking about doing gold 😅

What!! I've just checked. Ours cost £55. Done end of 2023.

Sorry it was £55 enrolment and &160 for the expedition. Still waaaay less than OP!

Similar price at DD's high school. Outside company brought in to run it - that's the actual cost if it's not volunteers.
I can completely understand why teachers don't want to do this anymore. They won't get paid and it's a lot of time to give up.
Would be cheaper with Scouts or Guides but only if you have qualified leaders where you live.
You can jump from Bronze to Gold.

I disagree the Gold DofE was a brilliant experience for my DS.

Loads of people in my DS’s group dropped out because of how hard it is.

DS achieved his DofE Gold when he was 18 before going to Uni. Only 4 out of 16 managed to achieve this. Some may never finish it.

Unis and jobs may not look at it but the experience of achieving the Gold is valuable.

DS loved the trip to Buckingham Palace too.