Littleport and East Cambs Academy is delighted to have received a grant of £5,000 from The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award’s (the DofE) Diamond fund.
The funding will give young people the opportunity to experience new activities and learn new skills whilst completing the prestigious award.
The DofE scheme is widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people. It provides young people, aged 14-24, the opportunity to develop key life skills such as confidence, commitment and team working through volunteering, learning a new skill, physical exercise and an expedition.
The grant will allow Littleport and East Cambs Academy, in Littleport, near Ely, to help equip pupils with the necessary materials to take part in the expedition element of the award, including providing tents and backpacks.
Christina Emmess, DofE Lead at Littleport and East Cambs Academy, said: “We believe it is important to support our students to become confident and rounded individuals who are ready for life after education. We are thrilled to have received a grant from the DofE’s Diamond fund. With DofE we can give more young people the opportunity to develop key communication and confidence skills that are transferable to life and work.
“This year alone, we have 27 Year 9 students on the DofE programme. We look forward to celebrating all their hard work over the next year on our next practical expedition which will take place in June 2020.”
Peter Westgarth, Chief Executive of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award said: “We are delighted to grant Littleport and East Cambs Academy money from the #iwill DofE Diamond fund to enable even more young people in Cambridgeshire the opportunity to do their DofE. The life changing benefits of a DofE programme should be readily available to any young person who wants to help themselves to go further in life.”
Through its Diamond fund, the DofE will be investing a total of £3 million over the next four years to increase the number of young people starting their DofE from 50,000 per year to 70,000 by 2021. The main focus of the funding is to support disadvantaged young people.
The £3 million is made up of £1.5 million raised by over 15,000 supporters in the DofE’s Diamond Anniversary year (2016), £1 million from the #iwill fund for England, a joint initiative from The National Lottery and Department of Culture, Media & Sport, and additional DofE donations to double Diamond Anniversary fundraising in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
To find out more about Littleport and East Cambs Academy, please visit: www.lecacademy.org
To find out more about the DofE and how it enables young people to succeed, please visit DofE.org
Press release from The Active Learning Trust
