At Living Learning English , we paid tribute to His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, by looking back at his achievements of empowering young people from all communities to build confidence, resilience and to gain life skills through establishing the Duke of Edinburgh award.

We spoke with our staff and, our Senior Guardianship Manager and Designated Safegaurding Lead, Emma Langton remembers taking part and achieving the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award at school, and it was through this award that she gained her first experience working with and safeguarding children, which also sparked her interest in Psychology. Emma volunteered for two summers at a summer playscheme for disabled children and their brothers and sisters. Emma thoroughly enjoyed this experience and is grateful to the Duke of Edinburgh award for fuelling her compassion to work with and safeguard children.

“The Duke of Edinburgh award was a fantastic experience for me and my friends at the time as living in a rural community with a lack of a youth club, facilities and opportunities, we were often bored. The volunteering part of the award formed the foundations for my career. I remember vividly the training we undertook for the playscheme. For one part , we had to be blindfolded whilst another person fed us rice pudding, so we could experience what it was like to be fed if we were blind. This really started to help develop my skills, empathy and compassion to work with children”.