Question about Y12 Silver Duke of Edinburgh

[DuchessofNothing]

Has everyone who's doing this got started now? DS handed in his application late (lots of other personal stuff going on) last week and I've heard nothing since, nor has he (he says).
I've heard it has to be completed in nine months, so I expected things to start a.s.a.p.
I'm asking you nice helpful MN people first rather than checking with his teacher because of the numerous other Issues that are going on, which are higher up the nag-priority list!

You can take years to do your DofE. It just has to be complete before he turns 25.

He can get going on one or more areas and then backdate them.

The main thing is to be organised in to a team for prepping for and doing the expedition.

If he only handed in form last week I think you are worrying unnecessarily early!

Have a look on the D of E site, it explains requirements there.

Thanks Teen. we were worried he will miss out on it .
he has missed out on a lot of this type of thing because of academic and personal circumstances and it feels like we are always playing catch-up with his friends, who have all done extra curriculur / work experience activities to put on their CVs and ucas etc.
He's doing doe through his school but he says he doesn't even know if anyone else is doing it .

Do you mean Silver? You can go straight to Gold without doing Silver but it takes longer. Rules here.

But don't worry about UCAS forms. Extra curricular activities, unless they are very closely related to the subject they want to study, make absolutely no difference at all. Apart from, I suppose, giving them something to talk about at interview. Which most people don't do. So, if you think DofE might affect his grades, then unless he has a burning desire to do it, there's not need to bother!

What is wrong with people at the moment. There's another thread running where OP is saying "does my DS have to do sport?"
There's more to education than bagging grades.

Of course there is, Senua. But in this case,the OP seems to be suggesting that her ds has a LOT on his plate, and that he is only doing DofE for UCAS form purposes. And I wanted to reassure her that he isn't ruining his chances if he doesn't do it. Because a lot of people think extra curriculars carry much more weight than they do.

thanks for replies. Senua yes it's Silver - that is what they offer at his school, apparently.
Whether it makes a difference or not in the long run i think it would be good for him to do, for various reasons, including that it will make him DO something! so it's not just for cv/ucas reasons, it's also for the experience itself, eg doing voluntary work, learning skills and organising an expedition. He does have a lot on his plate, yes, but this would be a distraction from some of the bad things and build his confidence, IMO.
thanks for replying - it's very valuable to have other people's opinions.

As previous posters have said he has until he is 25 years old to complete his Silver and Gold if he chooses to do it. So it doesn't matter when he starts. However, I would suggest that it is a good idea to be in line with the expedition training etc at school. This will include training sessions in navigation, first aid etc, a practice expedition and the real thing. It is possible to join an open group to do your expedition but to be honest if he is registered with school it is more straightforward to do it with school. I expect they will have sorted the dates out for the above by now. As for the other sections e.g. volunteering, skill, physical activity etc they can all be done as an individual. Good luck!

At my dds' school, the pupils need to have begun working towards their skills, etc., in order to be included in the expedition/practices organised by the school. As going says, that's the most straightforward way of doing it, although it's possible to do it independently. That (apart from age 25!) is the only time limit I've seen.

IME, it's only the expedition the school will organise.
Part of the achievement of the awards scheme is the getting organised , getting the other sections done, etc on your own. If it were all spoon fed, then there wouldn't be much of an achievement and it would devalue the award.
He needs to be arranging what skill he's going to develop, what physical activity he's going to do, where he's going to volunteer.

Activities certainly should n't just be aimed at university entrance. Lots of useful life experience / growing up skills to be had by a myriad of activities such as D of E or volunteering. Some of those will also be helpful post higher education even if no qualification is gained.