September 2022 – Out in the distance by the small lake, a Gold DofE group supported by Entrust navigates their way through the mountains of Snowdonia.
In 2022, Entrust had their most successful year to date and supported over 1,000 young people to complete their Duke of Edinburgh's expeditions across all levels and in a variety of locations across the UK.
The DofE Awards are broken into Bronze, Silver and Gold levels, with a Bronze comprised of a 2 day / 1 night training expedition, followed up by a qualification expedition of the same duration. This is the most popular level of expedition, with Entrust qualifying 676 young people to this level in 2022. Each expedition requires the young people to assemble into small teams and navigate unaccompanied through the countryside by learning navigational skills, working as a team to develop resilience and collaboration and carrying the necessary equipment for them to travel and camp in the great outdoors safely. The young people sleep in tents, cook their own food on stoves and learn to look after themselves and others.
For those that enjoy this experience, the skills are further developed and tested at Silver level, which requires the completion of a 3 day / 2 night expedition. The culmination of the awards is a Gold level, where the young people complete an expedition in more remote and wild terrain such as Snowdonia or the Lake District over a 4 day/3 night period. Those that complete the whole Gold Level DofE Award are invited to Buckingham Palace to receive their awards.
As Entrust Outdoors are based in Staffordshire, the majority of our expeditions are completed on Cannock Chase or in the Peak District, but our Gold expeditions take place in more remote locations like Snowdonia or the Lake District.
For those that are really adventurous, Entrust Outdoors also offers the opportunity to complete expeditions either by bike or by canoe which requires an additional level of training and adds excitement to the expedition!
Whilst the majority of young people that engage in expeditions with Entrust do so with their school, there are some people that don’t have this opportunity and so need to access their expeditions through ‘Open Awards’, which Entrust also provide at Silver and Gold levels. This often means that the young people complete their expedition with people they don’t know and have the opportunity to work and build friendships with new people.
Entrust Outdoors has a dedicated department to provide all the necessary customer and operational support to enable safe and memorable experiences for young people. High-quality group equipment such as tents, stoves, gas and maps are provided and there is a supply of personal equipment such as rucksacks and roll mats for those that are in need of it.
To deliver these expeditions, Entrust utilises highly qualified staff and holds an Adventure Activities License Service (AALS) license. Entrust also holds the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC) Gold Standard Award and Learning Outside the Classroom (LoTC) Accreditation
