The Junior Duke Awards

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    Life Skills Awards For Children Aged 3 to 13

    Life can be hectic and we are often too busy to allow our children to learn to do things for themselves as it's much quicker, as an adult, to do things ourselves. Many six year olds ARE capable of making toast for their breakfast, they CAN tie their shoelaces and they CAN make it up a hill whilst carrying their own essentials. After completing a level of the Junior Duke, many parents have said that they expect more from their children as they now know their youngsters are so capable!

    All they need is the time and space to explore, learn from their mistakes and learn to be safe.

    Award Structure

    • 10 levels

      There are 10 levels of the Award, each with a large selection of challenges from which children can have choice. Resilience and perseverance required!

    • 'Have a go' attitude

      The age-appropriate challenges teach children the importance of not giving up if you fail. Success results in pride as they earn their certificate and badge.

      Award Benefits

      • Bringing families together

        Junior Duke reaches far beyond the classroom – the whole family can get involved with completing a variety of challenges.

      • Creating opportunities for parental links

        Many schools make use of parents’ skills to run this Award whilst others enjoy having the non-academic Award to enable new-found discussion about children’s strengths and weaknesses.

      • Helping build a community feel

        By completing their level and being celebrated in school, children feel a sense of being ‘in it together’. Teachers’ involvement in assessing creates bonds which may otherwise not happen.

      • Family fun!

        Learning a skill for a challenge should be practised repeatedly. Thereafter, once parents understand how capable their children are, a new world of family adventures opens up!

      • Finding and developing independence

        Giving children the space to learn new skills and do things on their own gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment in a non-academic setting.

      • Creating natural conversation

        Many children love talking to teachers they don’t know and sharing their achievements. Others are nervous to do so but soon realise being pushed to speak to unknown adults can be fun. Corridor conversations will become very interesting!

      • Discovering self sufficiency

        Children naturally develop a ‘can do’ attitude when they are responsible for doing something for themselves and can see success.

      • Giving a feeling of belonging

        Children will develop new friendships as they work through their level together – and may even compete to see who can complete challenges the fastest! Feeling pride that they earned points for their House or Class really boosts a feeling of belonging.

      • Increasing resilience

        By having space to grow and make mistakes, children will be inspired to work through their setbacks to achieve success.

      • A welcome side-product

        With the feeling of achievement and success through the non academic challenges, growth and improvement can often be seen in academics.

      Award Levels

      General Age (ish!)

      Primary (Scotland)

      Year (England)

      Grade (USA)

      Nano Duke

      4

      Pre school

      Nursery

      Pre-school

      Micro Duke

      5

      1

      Reception

      Pre-K

      Silver Mini Duke

      6

      2

      1

      Kindergarten

      Gold Mini Duke

      7

      3

      2

      Grade 1

      Bronze Junior Duke

      8

      4

      3

      Grade 2

      Silver Junior Duke

      9

      5

      4

      Grade 3

      Gold Junior Duke

      10

      6

      5

      Grade 4

      Platinum Junior Duke

      11

      7

      6

      Grade 5

      Silver Senior Duke

      12

      Senior 1

      7

      Grade 6

      Gold Senior Duke

      13

      Senior 2

      8

      Grade 7

      Why children
      love the Junior duke

      We’ve watched tens of thousands of children blossom before our eyes as they have moved through each level - all thanks to having the opportunity to learn new things, make mistakes, and correct them for themselves. 

      Here are a few thoughts we’ve gathered from our Mini and Junior Duke champions:

        • I love feeling free when I’m out in the hills on an adventure.
        • I feel ‘grown up’ when I built a safe fire and toasted a tasty marshmallow.
        • I liked surprising my daddy when I was able to say mummy’s mobile phone number.
        • Now I know how fiddly it is to sew on a button, I’m going to be more careful when I’m playing in the playground!
        • I like following the rules of games like chess because you know if someone’s right or wrong.
        • I get nervous making presentations, but it gets a little easier every time and having a PowerPoint really makes it easier too. 
        • I like that my parents are surprised when I cook or bake something delicious without their help.
        • I loved writing to our council and getting 3 seconds added on to our green man because now the older people can cross without rushing.
        • I like how proud I feel each time I complete a level and I know my parents are too.

        Getting started with the junior duke award

        Throughout the ten levels, there are nearly 140 different, progressive challenges ranging from First Aid, eco, exercise, domestic challenges, budgeting, fixing punctures, building fires, baking, cooking, washing sheets, making presentations, knitting, litter-picking….all manner of things!
        Fun for all the family!

        Get started