Over one of the hottest weekends of the year, 40 Dover Court students across Years 9 and 10 braved the wilds of Pulau Ubin for their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award Adventurous Journey. This challenging experience was the culmination of weeks of preparation, including a practice trip in March – and was a resounding success!
The Duke of Edinburgh International Award is a personal challenge that aims to build confidence and resilience in students. Through developing transferable skills, increasing fitness levels, cultivating a sense of adventure and volunteering, the Award helps young people to find their purpose, passion and place in the world. This unique experience helps our students develop the skills they need for life regardless of their background, culture, physical ability or interests.
“I’ve learnt a lot about resilience and how to never give up. I went out of my comfort zone – without the use of my phone – and I survived. I want to do the Silver Award now!” one student remarked after the adventure.
DofE has a saying. “Are you world ready?’, which reflects the programme’s ethos of developing well-rounded young people. Each section of DofE nurtures a different combination of soft skills – for example, to complete the expedition section, students need to be able to work in a team but also be self-sufficient and organised.
This valuable experience and award give Dover Court students an advantage to ‘stand out’ from other students when applying for universities as vital soft and life skills like resilience, confidence and time management are developed whilst undertaking the award scheme.
“Many universities value character on top of academic achievements which the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award perfectly highlights! In the United States, for example, university applications have an entire section for students to list all their extracurricular activities and even ask how many years they have participated in each activity. If a student starts an activity at a younger age and continues it throughout their schooling, they can show their curiosity and growth in an area.” says Hani Rahman, Careers and Higher Education Guidance Counsellor at Dover Court.
In this award programme, there were four compulsory sessions: Physical Recreation, Skills, Voluntary Service and Adventurous Journey. To complete the Bronze Award, at least 6 months of participation is required.
The DCIS students made us all proud, successfully completing all required checkpoints, taking photos as proof, and exploring the island. Next, each group will give a presentation on what they saw to complete one of the sections for their DofE Bronze Award.
In response to the experience, students had the following comments:
“The boardwalk at Chek Jawa was beautiful – the best part of the trip – suddenly I wasn’t tired anymore!”
“We were the last group to reach the campsite, but – who cares – we did this together!”
“We were so pumped and excited to get going!”
“It’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever done... but we did it as a team!”
“We were worried about insects, monkeys, and no air-con, but after reflection, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done with my friends!”
“We had never realised what we could do as a team!”
It takes great commitment and perseverance to complete a challenge of this scale, especially while also managing other schoolwork, sports and activities. We are immensely proud of our students’ accomplishments and look forward to seeing how they push themselves further next year.
Learn more about Dover Court’s outstanding experiences here.
