We have had several busy weekends with Duke of Edinburgh Award treks running – with staff and students heading off across the country to meet the benchmarks to earn these special awards.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award team is led by Ms Williamson, but many other staff help out too, and to bring these extra experiences to life Friary staff are ready to go the extra mile by giving up their weekends to support the projects.
The expeditions have included the Peak District with the Bronze Award, and more recently the Silver Award has seen students making their way across Shropshire.
The weekends have been a mix of blistering heat and at times near tropical rainstorms so real perseverance and grit is needed. We are though very much a school that wants to develop these qualities in our children – ploughing on, keeping going, and getting to the target.
Matt Allman, Headteacher, said: “We are hugely grateful to the DofE team for pulling all these weekends together – it is a real commitment from staff – and even their families – to make this work. However, the qualities it brings to our students are fantastic and there is a real sense of achievement which they can carry forward in life once the expedition and certification are done. There will be more cohorts next year so look out for details and be ready to sign up.”
