SYLLABUS

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is available to all cadets. Many cadets who have started the scheme at school find that ATC can provide the facilities to complete the award.

Each award is broken down into 4 areas (5 for gold), which participants must complete successfully to receive their award. These are:-
Service                      - Helping others in the local community.
Expeditions                - Training for, and planning of a journey.
Skills                         - Demonstrate ability in almost any hobby, skill or interest    
Physical Recreation    - Sport, dance and fitness.    
Residential Project (Gold Award only)    A purposeful enterprise with young people not previously known to the participant.

The Awards are recognised by many employers as an indication that the individual is keen to undertake challenges

 BRONZE

Cadets must be at least 14 years old to start the Bronze award and can expect it to take a minimum of six months to complete.
To complete the Bronze award, cadets must complete a service, skill, physical recreation and plan & prepare for a 2 day venture.
Based on an average of 1 hour per week, a cadet must actively take part in a service, skill and physical recreation for 3 months. These can of course run alongside each other and do not have to run concurrently.

SILVER

Cadets must be at least 15 years old to start the Silver award and can expect it to take a minimum of six months to complete. This timeframe is extended for cadets starting the award scheme at this level (Direct Entrant), to 1 year. To complete the Silver award, cadets must complete a service over 6 months, a skill and physical recreation for a total of nine months (cadets can choose to do either for 6 months and the other for 3 months) and plan & prepare for a 3 day venture, while Direct Entrants must undertake an additional 6 months in either the service or the longer of the skills or physical recreation.

GOLD

The Gold award is the highest level in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. Cadets must be at least 16 years old to start the award and can expect it to take a minimum of one year to complete. This timeframe is extended for cadets starting the award scheme at this level (Direct Entrant), to one and a half years.

To complete the Gold award, cadets must complete a service over 12 months, a skill and physical recreation for a total of eighteen months (cadets can choose to do either for 12 months and the other for 6 months) and plan & prepare for a 4 day venture, while Direct Entrants must undertake an additional 6 months in either the service or the longer of the skills or physical recreation.
In addition, Gold participants must also complete the residential element of the award. This involves undertaking a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights, with people who are not already known to them.
To help cadets complete this section, the annual summer camps are the ideal opportunity, as many camps take two or more squadrons. This means that the participant will be working with people they have never come across before.
There are other avenues available if the cadet or his award leader can arrange it. Other possibilities include youth hostels or sailing ships.