The Duke of Edinburgh's Award for schools
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award for schools
Essex County Council holds the licence to operate The Duke of Edinburgh's (DofE) Award in Essex. We deliver the award directly through four youth centres and supports over 70 schools in Essex with their DofE provision. Are you a young person - Start doing your DofE Award with us
The DofE Award is the world's leading youth achievement award for 14-24 year olds.
Bronze – for those aged 14+ years (or in the school year in which your peer group turn 14)
Silver – for those aged 15+ years (or in the school year in which your peer group turn 15)
Gold – for those aged 16+ years
More than 3,000 young people start their award in Essex each year. We are striving to grow this number year on year with your support.
Are you interested in setting up The DofE Award at your school?
Contact us: DofE@essex.gov.uk
Why work under our DofE Award licence?
- You will be assigned to a member of our DofE team who will work with you closely to set-up the award, taking you through each step and helping you to iron out teething problems
- We will support you to set-up your own expedition provision, or we will advise you on local Approved Activity Providers (AAP's)
- Competitively priced versus schools being directed licenced with DofE
- Be kept up-to-date - our team are available over the phone, email and we will send you termly newsletters
- We will meet with you termly to discuss your progress, your training needs and to help identify new opportunities
- Join us on our ECC Expedition Skills Course for new leaders for just £75 (outside of our licence, delegates pay £175)
- If requested, we can set-up and run eDofE training for you and your leaders (no additional charge)
- We print and despatch award certificates and badges, saving you the admin task
- Gain equipment discount with Access Expeditions
- Apply for our DofE bursary to support participation - which can save 30% off practice and qualifying expedition costs
- Refer students to our annual DofE Funded Programme (free of charge for participants), which supports disadvantaged young people across the county. This is only open to those schools working under our licence
- Request to borrow expedition equipment free of charge*, such as tents, roll mats, Trangia's and rucksacks. *Dependent on availability
Expedition Feedback
We ask all school who run their own expedition to complete the below expedition feed back form. This form allows us to understand how expeditions have gone and if there are any recurring issue or problems which need to be address.
Expedition Enquiries
Essex County Council can run or assist on DofE expedition as a supervisor and/or Assessor up to running bespoke expedition packages. If you would like to find out more please fill the 'Register your interest for Essex Expedition's' form
Training and Events
ECC Expedition Skills Course – for schools operating under our licence
Become accredited to supervise DofE bronze walking expeditions this season, without the need for a national walking qualification. This two day course combines training and assessment in one and is held locally in Essex. Completion of this course will allow you to supervise DofE bronze expeditions in Essex under the ECC DofE licence. To express interest in this course, contact us at: DofE@essex.gov.uk
The Next course is being run on the
1st - 2nd March 2025
Expedition Skills Course- Bookings
Gold Award Presentation
Every year we organise and hold a prestigious award evening for Gold DofE achievers and their families. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate the successes and commitment of local people and is designed purely for those groups that completed their DofE programme through Essex County Council.
Find out more
Talk to us about The DofE Award! We'd love to hear from you. Contact us: DofE@essex.gov.uk