Duke of Edinburgh — Term 4, 2026
The Award doesn’t stop for the holidays. Over the break seven more awards were achieved:
Gold for Zoe Bigg (Year 12) and Joranai Demontiero (Year 12), Silver for Milla Papaluca (Year 12), Sabine Rezainia (Year 10) and Lucy Fickler (Year 11), and Bronze for Carina Chu (Year 11) and for Old Girl Billie Whittaker (2019), who started hers in 2015.
Four more came through this week: Gold for Grace Farrow (Year 12) , Vadeesha Kanagaratnam (Year 11) and Old Girl Jane Liu Whittaker, and Silver for Old Girl Beatrice Drake (2020).
That takes 2026 to 71, with a term still to run. Grace Farrow’s was one of the two Golds sent to State Office last week. Lucy Fickler’s Gold is still there awaiting final approval. Nine girls have earned their pocket and will receive it early in Term 4.
Science / DofE Exmouth 2027
The third trip to this location is locked in. Girls in Years 10 and 11 in 2027 have paid a deposit to secure their place on the Adventurous Journey on Ningaloo Reef. The last places are being confirmed now, so anyone still thinking about it should see me this week.
Term 4 is the sign-off term. Over the break, I audited the Online Record Book and found seventeen girls, current and past, who had finished every hour of their award and were one piece of paperwork from receiving it. Billie was the first. Beatrice, Jane and Vadeesha followed this week, and I’ve contacted the rest. That brings 2026 to 18 Golds, and Lucy’s would make 19, four short of the school’s Gold record of 23, set in 2019.
Which got me wondering: 71 awards by the second week of October. Is that a good year, or an ordinary one? So I pulled every MLC School registration on the Online Record Book since 2015 and had a look.
What parents can do
Most awards that stall don’t stall on the activity. They stall on the last bit of paperwork. Please take five minutes this week to sit down with your daughter and open her Online Record Book together. Then ask her three questions:
- Have all the hours been logged? Each section (Physical, Skill and Service) needs every week recorded, not just the ones she remembered.
- Has each assessor signed off? If an assessor report is still sitting at “pending”, a polite reminder from your daughter to her coach, teacher or supervisor is usually all it takes.
- Is the Adventurous Journey report uploaded? She needs one report for the Practice journey and one for the Qualifying journey, with dates that don’t overlap. The templates are on the DofE Padlet.
If the answer to all three is yes and nothing has moved, please encourage your daughter to email me at gmole@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au, and I’ll look into it with her. I’d ask that the email comes from her rather than from you. Following up with an assessor, sorting out a problem and seeing it through are some of the most useful things the Award teaches, and this is a good chance for her to practise them. Your encouragement at home makes all the difference. If I’ve emailed her about her award this term, please check that she has replied.
Past students: if you have an older daughter who left MLC School with an award almost finished, it isn’t too late. Two of this week’s awards went to girls who started in 2017. Ask her to get in touch.
Exmouth 2027: the last places are being confirmed now. If your daughter is interested and hasn’t paid a deposit yet, she should see me this week.
– Glen Mole
Duke of Edinburgh Award Leader