Duke of Edinburgh Award Updates
As always with the SCEGGS community, I have been thoroughly impressed with the resilience, adaptability and stoicism of our students and staff, and I have grown in confidence that we can progress through these times still able to pursue our goals and face our challenges. So it was with great interest that I received some information regarding changes to Award rules. These changes have been made to facilitate candidates fulfilling their relevant section in safe, practical and timely ways, so that the current difficulties do not hinder individual completions. It should be stressed that these rule changes are temporary (for the moment, until the end of the year), and may require permission from your Award Leader or Assessor to implement – always discuss planned changes, or unplanned disruptions, with me so as to avoid problems or wasting of time and effort.
The long of it can be found here.
A summary of the new guidelines which will directly effect SCEGGS girls is below:
- Award Leaders can waive the requirement for a Bronze Practice Journey OR where a Practice has been previously completed, it can be counted as the Bronze Qualifying Journey. “This option is intended as a last resort.” Here at SCEGGS, I will be interpreting this as follows:
my preference will be, as always, for candidates to complete one Practice and one Qualifying Adventurous Journey
and this will be our ambition into the future. However, given the current situation where we may be unable to conduct a full set of Qualifiers before the end of the year, students may approach me individually to request this be implemented.
For the current Bronze candidates who have yet to complete their first Expedition, we will be making every effort to provide that opportunity sometime this year, depending on the easing of restrictions by the Department of Education, Health Authorities, SCEGGS itself and National Parks.
2. Recognising the Silver practice journey as the Bronze qualifier. “The Bronze qualifier can be deferred for Participants who are committed to continuing to the Silver level. These Participants can move on to do all of their Silver Award activities. At a later date, the Participant’s Silver Practice AJ will be used to count as their Bronze Qualifier. Once this is complete, the Participant will be awarded their Bronze.” Again, this should be seen as a last resort, where a student has been unable to complete their bronze due to the current situation, but wishes to move on to starting their Silver award in Year 10. Please do not assume this will happen automatically but will need to be discussed with me. It obviously only applies to the Expedition, not Volunteering, Skill or Physical Recreation.
There are other rule changes which are less likely to effect SCEGGS candidates, but I would still suggest girls read the linked document in case they are affected – particularly for current Golds, and also Old Girls who may be completing their Award. I also include the following, as a reminder of what hasn’t changed:
| Age-range for Gold Level | As previously advised by International Trustees, the minimum age-range for continuing or direct at Gold is 16. This will not change in light of COVID-19 and the view of the IAF is that any young person wishing to progress to Gold will do so when they are able to. There is no time pressure. |
| Changes to the Gold Residential Project |
Particularly the requirement to take part in an activity away from home. Any change was regarded as beyond scope due to the time-limited nature of COVID-19, the other changes regarding extension of age-range and need to protect the educational outcomes. |
| Changes to Supervision and Assessment and size of groups for Adventurous Journeys | It was felt that the other changes were sufficient and where AJs can be delivered ‘normally’ there is no need to change these requirements. |
| Changes to the allowed regularity of logged hours | It was felt that, with the other changes and with clarity on how Participants can continue their activities in each Section from home, there is no need to allow for condensed logging of hours within short periods of time once isolation measures have eased. |
To conclude, my ambition is that everyone complete their Award normally, that we maintain the standards that previous years have followed, and enjoy all of the experiences and learning opportunities that are possible. However, these rule changes provide girls with solutions should they genuinely be unable to complete all Sections due to the current Covid19 related disruptions.
To the Silver candidates, sit tight and listen out for announcements over the next few months, we will be prioritising your Expeditions when possible to get you finished this year.
For the current Gold candidates, I urge you to stay positive and optimistic concerning your Award; we have experienced a setback this year (actually three – fire, flood and plague), but I will be working hard to help you achieve your goals as best we can. Please come and discuss with me your current situation or email me if you prefer.
I will also take this opportunity to point out that I have taken on some teaching hours, namely in the History Department, so girls will find me there for the near future (not in PDHPE), and you will see me around school more often should you need to chat.
I urge all the girls to continue with their Awards – there are some marvellous initiatives to undertake Volunteering, Skill and Recreation online. I would also like to encourage you to keep fit and healthy, by walking in nearby bushland or parks, in preparation for when our hikes resume and to take a break from screens.
A walk in nature walks the soul back home.
Joanne Bower
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Leader
