Students earn Duke of Edinburgh Award
Coleg Ceredigion’s vocational access students recently completed their Duke of Edinburgh awards, with seven students receiving the silver award and six the bronze award.
Working for this prestigious award during the duration of the academic year, students divided their time volunteering, improving skills as well as taking part in physical activities in order to earn their award.
For the volunteering aspect of the award, which was nature/sustainability based, the students worked tirelessly creating bird boxes and bee hotels which were then donated to two community groups, Dyfi Osprey Project and the Borth Community Gardens.
For the skills aspect, the students worked on improving their culinary skills, both with and without support as well as learning about food service.
Showcasing all the skills that they learned, at the end of the year staff were treated to an afternoon tea which was served by the students themselves.
Taking inspiration from the local myth of Cantre’r Gwaelod was the driving force behind the physical aspect of the award.
Working closely with the performing arts department, the students performed an adaption telling the story of the vanished kingdom in West Wales.
According to Jack, one of the vocational access students: “I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Duke of Edinburgh award as it has helped me embrace my creative side as well as helping with my mental health.
“I enjoyed the variety of activities involved and doing them with friends from the course made it even better.
“Gaining this award has opened up so many possibilities for me.”
Vocational access lecturer Maggie Neville states: “The new independent living skills curriculum in further education colleges is non-qualification delivery based on the four pillars of learning; skills for work, skills for life, community engagement and health and wellbeing.
“The Duke of Edinburgh Award enables the learners to develop this, and is particularly good at meeting the individual targets of learners.
“I’m so proud of how the students worked in order to achieve their awards and I’m sure that this will have helped with their mental health and wellbeing, especially during the lockdown period.
“I’m really pleased with how it helps the learners and hope others will be able to benefit from this next year.”
Coleg Sir Gar and Coleg Ceredigion support the Duke of Edinburgh programme because it has been instrumental in providing a rich learning experience for young people, that compliments, and in some instances extends, the knowledge, skills and attitudes they develop in a traditional learning environment.
It provides an exciting opportunity for personal development allowing learners to push their own boundaries whilst engaging in a team environment.
Moving from the comfort zone to the challenge zone is a daunting prospect for some young people and the DofE programme allows personal growth and discipline to flourish.
Time management, determination and the drive to succeed are qualities that are required for any walk of life and are the fundamental reasons why this scheme is so successful and important for learners.