Volunteering is a vital part of the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) programme, helping students to broaden their horizons and to develop their own skill set, while being a positive influence and helping others in the local community.

There are around 122 Royal High Bath students who have been actively involved with DofE volunteering between Year 9 and Year 13 over the last year. Altogether, they spent over 1,840 hours volunteering as part of their DofE activities. According to calculations by the DofE, the social value of these hours totals £1,945. 

Mr Hardcastle who heads up our DofE programme at Royal High Bath tells us more about volunteering as part of the DofE and the many benefits:

What does the volunteering part of DofE involve? 

Volunteering is one of the four key parts of the DofE programme. There are three levels of the DofE Award programme that young people can complete, a Bronze, Silver or Gold and for each level, participants need to fulfil a set number of hours of volunteering. Most people usually do an average of an hour a week, so for a Bronze this could mean volunteering for 3-6 months, for Silver, around 6 months and for Gold, around 12 months. However quite a few of our students, even when they have finished their DofE volunteering section, continue to volunteer because they enjoy it and get so much out of it.

Why is volunteering part of DofE? 

We now know volunteering is very healthy for the mind, body and general wellbeing. When the DofE programme was established in 1956, encouraging young people to put others first and to help others is very much at the heart of this. It continues to be the case and the Volunteering section of a DofE programme is often the most rewarding and uplifting part of a young person’s DofE Award. 

What are the benefits of volunteering to young people? 

Doing things for others at a young age helps develop habits that, if you were to take these on for life, not only have a better impact on others and the world around you but helps you too in the long term. There has been research carried out that has found that there are five essential ‘Pillars’ you can follow to help improve your mental health and wellbeing: Connect with others; Be active; Take notice; Keep learning; Give. Volunteering helps fulfil all these.

What types of thing can people do as the volunteering part of DofE?

There is a huge array of activities: many of our students help the local Brownies pack or volunteer at local primary schools reading with the younger pupils and helping with art and craft. One student who is a talented hockey player coaches the U12 boys at Bath Buccaneers Hockey Club, while another regularly helps with the front desk and admin work at the BTIT Sunday Islamic School which she attended when she was younger. The DofE realises it can sometimes be hard, especially for younger students below 16 years old, to volunteer due to access or transport issues, and so also recognises volunteering that you do in your neighbourhood, litter picking or helping neighbours and friends with childcare or walking and feeding their pets. Increasingly there are now lots of organisations that offer virtual volunteering. A particularly interesting example is one of our students who volunteers with Missing Maps, a collaborative project which uses satellite images to map areas of where humanitarian organisations are trying to meet the needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. 

What advice would you give to parents of children / young people who want to take part in volunteering either as part of DofE or otherwise? 

I would say above all to be imaginative. Think of things you enjoy or areas you would like to develop yourself in, find out information about the organisations you are interested in, and write to them to ask if you could volunteer. Don’t be afraid of being approaching them and saying “I would like to volunteer. Is there anything I can do?” Don’t forget you can always go to your school’s DofE Manager or a member of staff who will be more than happy to help you identify opportunities and to set up any volunteering.