The Duke of Edinburgh Award in Years 9 and 10

Platanus Schule Berlin focuses on the future of self-efficacy – for students and teachers. Director of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Vanessa Masing: “Our award promotes key competences of the 21st century.”

How do we best support our students to develop their strengths and potential? For our teacher Dr. Stephanie Bachorz, the answer is clear: “We need strong partners who strengthen our students in their personal development. Due to the pandemic, many have experienced a loss of control. That is where the Duke of Edinburgh comes in: By setting individual goals, a bridge between school and leisure is created and control is given back.”

With origins in the UK, the Duke of Edinburgh offers a holistic approach to personal development for young people aged 14-24, currently in 130 countries. The Bronze, Silver and Gold levels require increasing levels of commitment, perseverance and personal responsibility. Participation motivates young people to take on individual challenges outside of an academic curriculum in the areas of social commitment, fitness and talents. An “unaccompanied” expedition in nature lasting several days is the crowning finale.

The Duke of Edinburgh offers licensing to particularly committed schools, youth associations and sports associations. This programme was also offered to our school and we are looking forward to implementing the Duke of Edinburgh for our students in Years 9 and 10. Fortunately, we have experienced Duke of Edinburgh facilitators in our team, such as Ms. Kappes, Dr. Bachorz, Mr. Daley and Mr. Barret is also well acquainted with it : “I have already been trained as an Duke of EdinburghAward Leader. I act as a mentor and accompany the students’ journey. It’s a great change from teaching and makes my job much more exciting!”, reports Joel Barrett, our PE teacher.

At many international and prestigious universities, participation in the Duke of Edinburgh Award is a valuable part of the admission process and successful participation is welcomed. We are pleased to be able to offer our students this opportunity from this school year 2023/24.

More information on the programme can be found at https://www.dofe.org/.

We are looking forward to the results and developments of our students and will keep you informed!