The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an internationally respected extracurricular scheme which enables young people to engage in activities which are both challenging and fulfilling. Most elements of the sward are undertaken individually, only the expedition is a group activity. 

King Ecgbert School offers students the opportunity to enrol for the Bronze Award in Y9. The reasoning behind this is that students can usually complete the requirements for the Bronze Award within a twelve-month period before the demands of GCSE examinations become paramount and to provide more balance across year groups in terms of the extracurricular opportunities on offer.

Staffing requirements for the expedition can also be met more readily and the window of opportunity to conduct expeditions is less affected by summative assessments. 

Most students are already engaged in sporting or leisure activities which qualify for either the skills or physical sections and have no difficulty in continuing their involvement as part of the Award. Students are encouraged to use their own initiative in setting up their volunteer work. 

The expedition section is the only part of the Award administered wholly from school and involves a training weekend, where members of staff train and accompany student groups on an overnight walking, navigation and camping expedition. The Assessed Expedition is done with staff supervision at strategic points, but student groups are required to undertake route navigation independently in order to satisfy the conditions of the award.

Enrolment documents and consent forms for 2025-2026 will be uploaded here very shortly.