The final weekend for DofE has just passed and twenty-eight of our students who took on the award in September 2018 all passed the expedition section of the award.

Day 1 saw the groups navigate well and manage to get through a series of checkpoints (only a couple of wrong turns and one group back 3 hours later than planned).

On Day 2 they were all more focused and made it back in good time for their parents to collect them – very much a case of lessons learnt.

It had been a testing weekend for them, with mild weather to start with a break in the sky for the sun to shine, followed by rain, hail, sun and wind. Luckily it was mild in camp and they all enjoyed their evening bonding, though the night was not so nice with temperatures dropping and the students waking at 5.00am to a sharp frost all around them.

The groups included:

Group A – Emily Thompson, Amy Tonks, Summer Palmer, Holly Baugh, Isabella Metcalfe, Georgia Morris & Natalie Adamkova.

Group B – Tom Sixsmith, Tom Perks, Harry O’Donnell, Ed Patstone & Callum Dee

Group C – Kieron Garcha, Daniel Townsend, Myles Thain, Ben Wykes & Jay Cutler

Group D – Emma Burns, Libby Johnson, Lauren Jarratt, Kerris Shepherd, Katie Thompson & Yulan Abela-Filer

Group E – Poppy Spanner, Charlotte Neal, Erin Staite, Erin Fry & Georgia Piper

Angie Lake, Duke of Edinburgh Co-Ordinator, said: “The students were fantastic throughout the scheme and have been supported all along by the staff, governors and other volunteers, who make the event possible. The students get a lot out of the programme and it is wonderful to see them flourish together.”

Matt Allman, Headteacher, added: “Mrs Lake puts in tremendous effort to pull this scheme through – not least after a serious knee operation – and we are lucky to have her commitment, enthusiasm and skills to make the Award happen at our school. We are very proud to be a DofE school and long may it continue.”