'DofE'
Duke of Edinburgh Award
A life-changing experience. A fun time with friends. An opportunity to discover new interests and talents. A tool to develop essential skills for life and work. A recognised mark of achievement, respected by many employers.
The DofE is many things to many people, aiding young people to successfully navigate adult life.
Through a DofE programme young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, problem-solving, team-working, communication and drive, enhancing CVs and uni and job applications. Top employers recognise the work-ready skills Award holders bring to their business.
We’re also very proud of our track record in facilitating such a great programme to our cadets - in 2017 we won the Wing award for best Squadron for DofE; and every year since, we have remained in the top 3 out of over 25 Squadrons within Norfolk & Suffolk.
Why do it with us?
Undertaking your DofE award through RAFAC offers two key advantages over other providers of the award scheme - lower cost & lower burden!
Lower Cost - because all of our staff are volunteers rather than paid instructors, we are able to facilitate the awards at a fraction of the cost of most commercial providers and schools/colleges who bring in paid instructors to facilitate their DofE programmes.
Lower Burden - We appreciate that time is valuable to our young people who will be trying to balance having enough time for their friends and family as well as studying for important educational milestones such as GCSEs and A-Levels. So, if you are already regularly attending most of our activities, many of these can be counted towards your DofE award! That means for a Bronze Award you would only have to commit to an additional 1-2 weekends to complete your Expedition Section on top of the normal parade nights you’d be attending anyway, leaving you more time for friends, family and those all important studies!
DofE at 356
At 356 Sqn, we are proud to be able to offer all three levels of the DofE Award (Bronze, Silver & Gold) to our cadets and younger adult volunteers - that’s right, a DofE award can be completed up until the day before your 25th birthday!
We recognise what a great programme this is in terms of the development of young people and as such, we offer every cadet the opportunity to partake in it, if they wish; and we do everything we can to aid them in completing the sections in ways such as investing in kit we can loan out: like rucksacks, tents, waterproofs, sleeping bags, etc.
Of course, we could spend all day telling you about the Scheme and all the fantastic benefits of doing your DofE award, but instead we’ll provide you the link below to the DofE organisation’s own website, so that you can see for yourself!
Fancy a trip to the Palace?!
Oh, and did we mention that upon successful completion of your Gold DofE Award, you will be invited to attend a formal presentation event at either Buckingham or St James’ Palaces with celebrities and members of the Royal Family in attendance?
Our most recent successful Gold Award achievers were lucky enough to spend a glorious summers day at an exclusive garden party at Buckingham Palace where they were presented their Gold Award certificates by Channel 4 news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy and even got to meet HRH Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex - Royal Patron of the DofE Award Scheme.