“You’re doing it already “
Accredited prior learning and dual achievement with the
St John Cymru Wales youth programme.
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Introduction
The aim of these guidelines is to support young people (aged 5 to 25 years old) in effectively utilising
their time within St John Wales by enabling them to use either previous learning, qualifications or
other award schemes to count towards their internal programmes or vice-versa.
This guidance should be read in conjunction with the Guide to the Grand Prior Award scheme, Amalfi
Challenge Handbook, Product Management Quality Manual (formally Course Regulations), Youth
Leader’s Guide to Cadets, Youth Leader’s Guide to Badgers and other policy documents as advised.
It is aimed at both youth leaders and young people.
Internal scheme ‘Super Badger Award’
The Super Badger Award scheme is the main programme for young people aged 5 to 10 years old.
However Cadets can carry on working towards their Super Badger Award until they are 12 years old.
It consists of 15 subjects of which only 12 need to be completed to achieve the award. The subjects
are designed to be taught over a term (about 12 weeks) or on special weekends, the whole scheme
taking between three to four years to complete. Each subject consists of a range of fun learning
activities that Badgers can complete.
Internal scheme Cadet ‘Grand Prior Award’
The Grand Prior Award scheme is the primary programme for Cadets aged 10 to 17 years old; though
it is open to ex-Cadets up until their 21st birthday (provided it is started by their 18th birthday). It is a
staged award scheme with four stages (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Grand Prior) and contains over 80
subjects set at three levels of accessibility. The Subjects are designed to be taught over a 6-8 week
period.
Internal scheme ‘Amalfi Challenge’
The Amalfi Challenge provides a flexible framework to enable 16 to 25 year olds to undertake a
programme of personal development, whilst working towards the Amalfi Award (via their Blue and
Red stages). This scheme provides a programme framework that allows the challenger to set their
own goals and timescales and may use activities they are already undertaking to achieve this. The
Amalfi Challenge is based around four arms which are: service, challenge, society and relationships.
The challenger has to undertake four challenges per stage. These do not necessarily have to be from
each arm.
How this guide works
By using this guidance we hope to show how a young person’s work on our internal programmes can
be counted towards different externally accredited schemes or how external programmes can count
towards internal schemes. Not everything a young person has undertaken will be eligible to count,
however we want to maximise what young people get out of their volunteering with St John
Ambulance.
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General principles of accredited prior learning (APL)
APL is a system of recognising that a person has the skills, knowledge and experience in a particular
field to exempt them from attending a course, re-visiting a subject or activity. This does not exclude
anyone from any assessment and continuous development. Certain qualifications can be awarded on
successful completion of the assessment without attending course sessions by accrediting the prior
learning of the candidate. Specifically for Cadet Grand Prior Award subjects, if a young person has
undertaken an external qualification or activity within the last two years, provided that the activity was
external to the school curriculum and that there is written evidence that the activity took place then a
Cadet can be accredited for the subject.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a nationally recognised scheme that has been dedicated to the
personal development of young people from all backgrounds. It is available to any young person from
14-25 years of age.
Full details of the DofE Award can be found in the DofE Website. You can find out how to get
involved by contacting your Regional Youth Officer of the Youth Department. Those who wish to
enrole onto the award must fill out the enrolment form which can be found on the member’s website.
http://members.stjohnwales.org.uk/youth/dofe/
There are three levels of programme you can follow and, on successful completion; you will be
awarded the Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
You can participate in the Bronze DofE programme once you’re 14 (or very nearly 14
your leader must agree to this.)
however
If you are 15, you can participate in the Silver DofE programme. If you've achieved
your Bronze Award, your Leader may allow you to start your Silver a month or two
before your 15th birthday

As for the Gold programme, no activities can be started before your 16th birthday

All activities that you do for any of the DofE programmes must be completed before
your 25th birthday.
Sections
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There are five sections within DofE which are:
Volunteering: From conservation to youth work to fundraising or caring for animals to going out on
event cover, there's an endless list of the types of projects you can get involved in. Have a chat with
your Leader and other people in your community to find out what’s on offer, what needs doing and
who needs help! Once you've found an activity or project, you'll need to get someone who's running it
to agree to help you through it and sign off your evidence once you've completed to prove you did it we call them your assessor. Your assessor will also check on your progress whilst you're doing the
activity. If you can't find a project you want to do, why not set up a new one that will help your
community? This can be on your own, with a couple of friends or even with your whole DofE Award
group – your leader can help you do this and may be able to act as your assessor.
Skills: Once you’ve chosen your skill you’ll need to decide how long you’re going to do it for and set
yourself some objectives. You’ll then need to find someone who will agree to be your assessor – they
need to have some knowledge of the skill you’re doing so they can help you along the way and agree
at the end that you’ve met your goals. As soon as you have all this in place just check with your
leader before you start – this enables us to establish whether you’ve ‘ticked’ all the boxes needed to
progress towards achieving your DofE Award and that you’ve set yourself enough of a challenge.
They’ll also make sure what you’ve chosen counts for the Skills section, for example, dance is
physical but dance appreciation is a skill.
Physical: Once you’ve decided what you want to do, you need to find an adult who needs to know
what you’re aiming to achieve, can help you through your section and sign your record book at the
end of it to prove you did it. This is your assessor and, for your Physical section, this is likely to be the
person who’s running the activity you do, for example your sports coach, dance teacher or gym
instructor. If you choose to do an activity on your own, why not ask your leader to be your assessor.
Expedition: There’ll need to be between four and seven of you in an expedition team (eight if you’ve
chosen to travel by tandem canoe or bike). With your team, you’ll plan an aim for your expedition,
decide on your location and do lots of fun training to make sure you’re fully prepared and know what
you’re doing! Your leader will arrange a supervisor to work with your team to organise all of this and
help you plan your expedition. Once you’ve done the preparation the fun starts when you go out and
do a practice and a qualifying expedition. Once you’ve completed your final expedition you’ll give a
presentation about your experiences and your achievements to your supervisor, assessor or another
adult.
Residential: to achieve your Gold Award, you need to complete an extra section – the Residential.
This involves spending 5 days and 4 nights away from home on a shared activity with people you’ve
never met before. It’s a big, exciting and very fulfilling experience. It may be that you want to build on
a talent you’ve developed in another section, learn something completely new on an intensive course
or do something to help others. Once you’ve found a residential you want to do and the person
running it, or another adult there, has agreed to be your assessor you need to get your operating
authority's approval through your DofE leader. Once you’ve got the go ahead, you can make all your
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arrangements. Don’t forget to remind them when you get there that you want your time with them to
count towards your Gold DofE award and meet your assessor. (This is for the Gold award only)
There are three DofE Awards, which are:
Bronze DofE Award
A Bronze DofE programme has four sections, Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition
You need be at least 14 years old to start a Bronze programme and you must do a minimum of three
months activity for each of the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections, and plan, train for and do a
two day (one night) expedition. You also have to spend an extra three months on one of the
Volunteering, Physical or Skills sections. It’s your choice which one and, though you can change your
mind later, you should decide which section you want to do for longer at the beginning. Knowing how
long you’re going to do it for will help you to set your aims for the sections.
This table shows what you need to do:
Volunteering
Physical
Skills
Expedition
3 months
3 months
3 months
Plan, train for and
complete a 2
day, 1 night expedition
You must undertake a further three months in the Volunteering, Physical or Skills
section.
Silver DofE Award
You need to be at least 15 years old to start doing your Silver DofE programme. If you start the Silver
without doing Bronze first you’ll have to do an extra six months Volunteering or doing whichever of the
Physical or Skills sections you have spent more time on. Though you can change your mind later, you
should decide which section you want to do for longer at the beginning. Knowing how long you’re
going to do it for will help you to set your aims for the sections. You need to do at least six months
Volunteering and a minimum of six months on either Physical or Skills and three months on the other,
it’s up to you which one you do for longer. The Expedition section involves planning, training for and
doing a three day (two nights) expedition.
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This table shows what you need to do:
Volunteering
Physical
Skills
Expedition
6 months
One section for 6
months and the other
for 3 months
One section for 6
months and the other
for 3 months
Plan, train for and
complete a 3
day, 2 night expedition
Direct entrants must undertake a further six months in the Volunteering, or the longer of the Physical
or Skills section.
Gold Award
Once you reach 16 years old you can do your Gold DofE programme. You’ll spend 12 months on your
Volunteering section. For Physical and Skills you must spend 12 months on one and six months on
the other - you decide which ways around you do it. If you’ve jumped straight into your Gold DofE
programme without completing your silver you’ll need to do a further six months either volunteering or
whichever one of your physical or skills activities you spent the most time on. The big difference at
Gold is you'll also do a Residential section - staying away from home for five days and four nights
doing a shared activity with people you don't know. Its great fun and a real chance to do something
different!
This table shows what you need to do:
Volunteering
Physical
Skills
Expedition
Residential
12 months
One section
for 12 months
and the other
for 6 months
One section
for 12 months
and the other
for 6 months
Plan, train for and
complete a 4
day, 3 night
expedition
Undertake a shared
activity
in a residential
setting
from home for 5
days and
4 nights
Direct entrants must undertake a further six months in the Volunteering, or the longer of the Physical
or Skills section.
How the DofE fits with the Grand Prior Award?
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By undertaking the Grand Prior Award and volunteering with St John Cymru Wales you can work
towards your DofE Award. For all sections you must be aware of the time period that needs to be
covered.

Volunteering section: by volunteering in any Cadet or adult role (such as a
Cadet Trainer or Cadet Young Leader), you can fulfil the requirements for
the Volunteering section. This can include continuing training for role but must also
include a period of time giving service as well.
 Physical section: by completing subjects from the Grand Prior Award scheme you will
be able to achieve your physical section. Alternatively if you already undertake an
activity such as play for a local sports team or do fitness classes this activity this will
count if you can show progression and improvement. The subjects include most
sporting activities.
 Skills section: by completing subjects from the Grand Prior Award scheme you can
use these as evidence towards your Skills section. Lots of subjects from aquarium
keeping to circus skills can be counted.
 Expedition section: you can complete this section in conjunction with Level three of
the Explorations/Expeditions Cadet subject.
Important to note
At the request of the DofE head office, participants can only use their role in St John Cymru Wales for
one of these sections. Training must be over the time chosen for each subject, doing a short course
i.e. over a weekend will not count for a full section. If you are using your role in St John for your
volunteer section you must show a progression in training as just attending weekly meetings will not
count towards part of the DofE Award, this means holding and revalidating in a role.
How the DofE fits with the Amalfi Challenge?
By undertaking the Amalfi Challenge and volunteering with St John Cymru Wales you can work
towards the DofE Award. You could set one of your challenges as completing an award level.
Alternatively, you could take different individual elements of work towards DofE and these can also be
counted towards the Amalfi Challenge as individual challenges. Each individual challenge should be
agreed with prior working. It is acceptable for work towards the DofE Award to also be counted
towards an Amalfi Challenge stage award.
CVQO- BTEC level 2 Public Services
Who are CVQO
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CVQO is accredited by Edexcel, City & Guilds and the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM)
to deliver a wide range of qualifications that have been carefully selected to show employers and
educators the wide range of skills including leadership, teambuilding, problem-solving,
communication, health and physical fitness that young people and adults learn through the Cadet
Forces. By offering qualifications designed to develop and improve these important practical skills
CVQO aims to provide its members with greater opportunities in both the workplace and in higher
education.
BTEC
Over the last 10 years, CVQO-led BTECs have helped thousands of people develop the skills they
need to get on in life. Engaging and inspiring, these work-related qualifications are suitable for a wide
range of ages and abilities. BTECs give learners the skills they need to either move on to higher
education or go straight into employment.
Public Service level 2
The BTEC Level 2 in Public Services hones your skills in leadership, teamwork, communications,
problem solving, and fitness. It involves a mix of theory and practical work and the qualification you’ll
get is the same as four GCSEs at grade A*-C. The qualification recognises prior learning that Cadets
have done during their time with St John Cymru Wales providing they can evidence their work with
certificates, a lot of the practical work will be covered.
BTEC Level 2 public services is available to all Cadets over the age of 16, all we ask is that you have
achieved 16 subjects within the Grand Prior Programme.
Why it matters
There are loads of things you could do with a vocational qualification behind you: get a job, get a
promotion, and get into college… You’ll come away with really useful life skills, like how to write a
good CV and interviewing techniques.
Best of all BTEC is designed to build on the skills you’ve already developed…so you can play to your
strengths.
Additional Information and support.
If you require additional support please Contact the Youth Department on 02920 4496 38 or email
Youth@stjohnwales.org.uk
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