The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Since it began in 1956, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award has been dedicated to the personal development of young people from all backgrounds.
With the widest reach of any UK youth charity, 275,000 young people (30,000 are from disadvantaged backgrounds) undertake inspiring DofE programmes to achieve Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Awards every year.
To date, the award has helped 4 million people in the UK and, thanks to over 120 sister organisations, 2 million internationally. Its commitment, efforts and results were recognised in 2006, during its 50th Anniversary, when her Majesty the Queen granted it Royal Charter status.
A DofE programme is a real adventure from beginning to end. It doesn’t matter who they are or where they are from, participants just need to be aged between 14 and 24 and to realise that there’s more to life than sitting on a sofa watching life pass them by.
Participants can do programmes at three levels, Bronze, Silver or Gold, which lead to a Duke of Edinburgh's Award. They achieve an award by completing a personal programme of activities in four sections: Volunteering, Skills, Physical and Expedition (plus Residential
if they are going for Gold).
They will find themselves helping people or the community, getting fitter, developing skills, going on an expedition and taking part in a residential activity (Gold only). But the best bit is that they get to choose what they do.
Their programme can be full of activities and projects that get them buzzing. And along the way they willl pick up experiences, friends and talents that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Further information about the award can be found at: www.dofe.org.
Zest for Adventure specialises in working with schools, colleges and youth organisations to help them deliver The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. We are experienced and accomplished either in setting up new award groups or in assisting with existing schemes: this is our Award Group Management programme. We can help with all sections of the award but, in particular, we are able to help with the training, supervsion and assessment of the Expedition section: this is our Expedition Section Provision programme. We offer both these programmes at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels.
| Bronze | Volunteering | Physical | Skills | Expedition |
3 months | 3 months | 3 months | Plan, train for and complete a 2-day, 1-night expedition |
Minimum age: 14 years. Participants must undertake a further 3 months in the Volunteering, Physical or Skills section. |
| Silver | Volunteering | Physical | Skills | Expedition |
6 months | One section for 6 months and the other section for 3 months | Plan, train for and complete a 3-day, 2-night expedition |
Minimum age: 15 years. Direct entrants must undertake a further 6 months in the Volunteering or the longer of the Physical or Skills sections. |
Gold | Volunteering | Physical | Skills | Expedition | Residential |
12 months | One section for 12 months and the other section for 6 months | Plan, train for and complete a 4-day, 3-night expedition | Undertake a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights |
Minimum age: 16 years. Direct entrants must undertake a further 6 months in the Volunteering or the longer of the Physical or Skills sections. |
Participants doing their DofE through our Award Group Management programme are automatically enrolled onto the eDofE website-based record-keeping system. With our Expedition Section Provision programme all expedition training is in line with the DofE's Expedition Training Framework and uses their EX2 Interactive Expedition Training Resource as well as Memory-Map Ordnance Survey mapping software. Participants and leaders enrolled on a Duke of Edinburgh's Award
programme with Zest for Adventure can log in here to access information and the programme of events for their own group. 
Alternatively, if you already have a Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme running in your school, college or youth organisation but would like some additional help with training, supervising or assessing for the Expedition section, we are able to provide instructors to assist you. Exact costs will depend on the details of the programme that you would like us to provide and on your location, but typical costs are £150.00 per instructor per day plus expenses.