Duke of Edinburgh Award Candidates

Please note all of our spaces for Spring 2026 are already taken

Thank you for considering undertaking your volunteering section of the D of E award with us.

We are a local charity with a high demand for our services to help to the people in a time of personal crisis, and are open six days a week to do this vital work. Most of the people who come to volunteer are adults who give up a half day or more every week, but we do have a limited capacity for D of E candidate to help with the varied tasks in our Donations Centre in Wokingham.

Important info to read BEFORE you enquire / apply

It is vital that you read and follow everything below for your application to be processed.

  • If you are under the age of eighteen, you will have to attend with a chaperone. This can be a parent, sibling over the age of eighteen or a trusted family friend, who has to be responsible for your wellbeing whilst you are in the building volunteering, and stays on site throughout the session. This is because most of our volunteers are not DBS checked as they do not come into contact with people who are either children or Vulnerable Adults whilst volunteering for us. This means they cannot be responsible for the emotional or physical wellbeing of other people’s children on our behalf. One adult can supervise two D of E candidates. Our staff members are checked, but cannot provide sustained 1:1 support for any volunteer as they may be managing twenty people in a session.
  • Candidates who are volunteering at Bronze level must complete one thirteen week block, and we can offer this mandatory requirement, but will not be able to extend your placement for your ‘optional’ fourth block.
  • We do take Silver or Gold award candidates and to ensure that they have time to complete the duration specified on the DofE website, https://www.dofe.org/do/sections/, they should plan to start in September / early October of the school year.
  • Most students come on Saturdays for a two hour session between either 10am-12 noon or 1pm -3pm, and there are four student places on each. Two students can ‘share’ an adult if they are friends with each other.
  • If you are at a school   local to Molly Millars Lane, we can take you, on Tuesday or Thursdays only, after school for an hour 4-5pm, but again a chaperone is required if under 18. We have two spaces on each afternoon, and you have to arrive by 4pm as a one hour session is the absolute minimum permitted under DofE regulations.
  • Most students complete their volunteering sessions broadly in line with school term dates, i.e starting September, January and around Easter.

How to apply

  • If you are interested, please email volunteers@thecowshed.org with “DofE enquiry” in the subject line.
    • Please indicate whether you are looking for an after-school or Saturday slot, AND advise if any session is either preferred OR not possible.
    • Please also give the email for your intended chaperone in this box as we will copy them in to all information we send out.
  • We host an ‘invitation only’ information event, with a tour, three times a year on Saturdays for candidates and their chaperones. When you send an enquiry email as described above, you will receive an invitation to the next available date, and you must reply. If you don’t reply, we will assume that you have found a volunteering opportunity elsewhere.
  • You cannot volunteer with us if you do not attend one of these events, as we will confirm sessions and starting dates at these gatherings.
  • We are not able to ‘hold’ places for friends who have not completed our enquiry form.
  • Please make sure that you use an email address you access daily so that you can read and reply to our response promptly.  You will get a response within a week, usually less.