If your ds is doing the bronze DOE

[ihatethecold]

What are they doing for the skill part.
We are really struggling.
The school offer short courses but he isn't keen on what they are offering.
So far it's been. Cookery, babysitting or first aid.
He doesn't play an instrument.
The only extra curricular activities he does is karate.
Which is his physical part of the award.

I'm starting to wish we hadn't signed up.

DD1 really benefitted from DofE.

She found the expedition really tough. She is petite and not naturally active so physically it was very hard for her. But more importantly she learned team working skills. In particular how to achieve even with people she wouldn't normally mix with, how to get your voice heard when you are being ignored, and how to persevere even through adversity.

Yes we used ice-skating as the carrot to encourage her to do it, but she got a lot of 'personal growth' out of the whole experience.

I'm not expecting it to help with job, uni or college applications, except that it gives her something to talk about if asked about persevering, team working etc. But it has helped her as a person.

Do check the list of skills/physical activities on the DofE website as you are restricted to what can fit into one or the other - decided by DofE so if Karate is listed as a physical it can't be used as a skill etc.

I would also point out you are supposed to do things which are out of your school lessons so using work for GCSE Computing as your skill wouldn't be counted at my school. You can however do something supplementary to your GCSE course and ask the teacher to assess. (Depends on strictness of school to some extent - we don't allow it which is the DofE stand point)

Students at my school have done, Cooking, Sign language, Gardening - set up an allotment, Languages, Musical instrument, Creative Writing, Drama and Theatre Skills, Comp Game Design in Extra curricular IT club, Jewellery making, Art, D&T Club at school - built a go kart, photography.

www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/activities-sections/

Down the side of this page each section will give some the list of activities which might inspire him.

A lot of employers like seeing Gold DofE on a CV as it shows the applicant has had to "get off their backsides and do something extra" as one phrased it to me. Doesn't count for anything/very much in a uni application IME though.

In terms of activities - my DDs have used things which they were already doing (music lessons/sports activities/an academic residential course), but extended them with eg a sports coaching qualification, or taking up a new instrument, or volunteering at a school club.

DD2 will be starting a leadership qualification with Girl Guiding UK as her volunteering for Gold (after volunteered at Brownie packs for Bronze and Silver - we're hoping that it's a different enough focus to get past the "you can't do the same thing for all three sections").

School's advice when deciding if something was a skill or a physical activity was that if it made you hot and sweaty, it was a physical activity. Each DC needs to get their choices approved by the school before they start though.

The only thing which has been laid on by school (and even then, only a bit) has been the expeditions and training. But we've been getting 200 or so DC starting bronze each year, and I think there were around 80 who completed the silver expedition in the summer, so it's not surprising that the school take a pretty active lead in the logistics of where and when to go, and booking the campsites/coaches.

Thanks for your advice everyone. It's been very useful.
I will sit down with him and look at the website.
See if we can get him motivated!

DS (15) has just finished his Bronze.

He did badminton as his physical; learned the sax from scratch for a year; is a Young Leader in his younger DB's Scout troop as his volunteering.

I think it was all worthwhile; it got DS out of the house; made him get organised to a certain extent, and I think he quite liked the two overnight trips to the forest!