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Celebrating Success through The Duke of Edinburgh Award at The Leigh Academy
On Thursday 16th March, following hours of volunteering, learning new skills, the torment of blisters, heavy backpacks, temperamental tents and miles of walking, our intrepid Duke of Edinburgh Award students finally received what they'd worked so hard for - their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award certificate and badge.
This group of students have the honour of being our first bronze award holders and they should be very proud of everything they have learned and every skill they have developed.
The evening began with the melodic Barnabas, a Year 11 student at The Leigh, as he demonstrated his incredible talent as a pianist. Award winners and their parents were invited to the event and they were certainly enthralled by Barnabas' playing.
After the introduction to the ceremony by Mrs. Collins, Principal, we were delighted to welcome Robert Gill, the Duke of Edinburgh Operations Manager for Kent who expressed his admiration for everything our students have achieved over the last 18 months. Following this, Ms Marshall took over the reigns and introduced the students who had taken part in the award. We listened to some wonderful presentations from the award winners about the volunteering, skill learning and physical elements of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and it was obvious to all that attaining the award is not a walk in the park - it takes dedication, resilience and tenacity.
Finally the moment arrived when the students received their awards, presented to them by Mrs Collins, in the form of beautifully framed certificates and smart DofE badges.
It has to be remembered that in order for our DofE students to be successful, there has to be a staff team who support them throughout all of the processes. This includes additional training so that all aspects of the award can take place, and as such the staff were also rewarded on the night by Robert Gill who presented the team with their Basic Camp Leaders certificates.
Huge thanks must go to Mr Hill (DofE Manager for The Leigh), Ms Marshall (Deputy Manager), Mrs Collins, Mrs Van Leeuwen, Mr Pearson, Miss Keveth and Miss Croft. Special thanks needs to go to Miss Keogh, who saw our students through the award last year. Although Miss Keogh is not a teacher at the academy now, she made the journey all the way from Swindon to celebrate with our award winners that evening.
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