Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Awards Ceremony at the Army Foundation College (AFC) Harrogate
Lt Col Rich Hall MBE, Commanding Officer at the AFC Harrogate, presented DofE certificates to Junior Soldiers (JS) of Waterloo Company on Monday 11 February 2019.
The Sports & Skills programme at the AFC covers the physical and skills part of the DofE award as well as assisting the JS in Volunteer Service. The final part of the award which is the expedition is also managed by the Pearson TQ (PTQ) staff in the Leadership and Initiative Training wing.
The JS have a number of sports and skills to choose from which range from:
Skills
Archery, Art, Bagpipes, Boxing Skills, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Climbing, Driver Theory, First Aid, Fly Fishing, Football Coaching, Guitar, Judo, Military Drums, Model Making and Drones, Mountain Bike & Maintenance, Pilates, Spanish Language, Survival skills, Swimming for Beginners, War Games.
Physical (Sports)
Basketball, Boxing, Climbing, Cross Country, Football, Hockey, Judo, Karate, Mountain Bike & Maintenance, Racket Sports (Tennis, Squash, Badminton), Rugby, Swimming, Triathlon, Weight Lifting, Volleyball.
The above sports and skills are delivered in the evenings after the JS busy programme of military training and education.
Each year at the College the PTQ Sports & Skills department runs two 21-week courses and produce, dependent on recruiting, an average of 750 Bronze awards and up to 150 part awards which go towards the Silver or Gold DofE award. JS already holding their Bronze or Silver awards are able to complete the physical and skills sections at Silver or Gold level. There is not sufficient time available during the busy 42-week college programme to fully complete all four elements of the Silver or Gold awards.
These high numbers makes the AFC(H) the largest provider of DofE within the UK.
The speed in which the JS achieve their award is an achievement in itself whilst the 16-17 year olds balance a full programme of:
- 25 weeks of Military Training
- 5 weeks of Leadership and Initiative Training
- 12 weeks of Vocational Education - English, Maths, ICT and BTEC.