The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Expeditions
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
Following months of training and a practise qualifier in May, our resilient and risk-taking Duke of Edinburgh Award students put their best foot forward and began their expedition into the heart of Kent, in June. On the hottest weekend of the year so far, twenty Year 9 and 10 students packed their rucksacks, stocked up with water and a range of cuddly toys, and with compasses and maps in hand, began the long walks that would lead them towards completing their DofE Bronze award.
This weekend wasn't without its difficulties: blisters were aplenty and tiredness crept up on the students. Finding ways through the summer foliage made orienteering difficult, however each team gave their all and at the end of the first day, reaped the rewards of a camp-cooked meal once they returned to base. The DofE may not be everyone's idea of fun, but the smiles and humour at the camp on Saturday evening was wonderful to see, proving that our young people definitely have what it takes to make a difference in many areas of their lives. Team work was in abundance!
It is not just their own lives that have been changed by the experiences of working as a team and exploring the countryside, learning a new skill and learning a new sport or fitness activity, our young people have made a huge difference to a variety of volunteering settings and they have a certificate to prove it! Two hundred and seventy-three hours of their own time has been dedicated to helping others and we are all immensely proud of our DofE students philanthropy.
Making lives better for others continued during the expedition as one of the groups, 'The Walkers' spent hours clearing litter from footpaths and undergrowth to make this scenic area of Kent even more beautiful. Two dustbin bags of rubbish brought back to camp, were testament to the group's hard work and resilience.
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e089697b-0187-492d-b5cb-9b080bffc1f0.MP4Sometimes, things don't go as we would like or as planned, and this was the case for one of our groups of Duke of Edinburgh students, last year. One group narrowly missed out on passing the Bronze Award and being the resilient, determined characters they are set out to put their disappointment from last year behind them. This year everything fell into place and and you can see from this video just how pleased they were! Congratulations to 'The Monkeys' on achieving your Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award!
Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award
Following their success in achieving the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award, a select group of students took on the rigours of the Silver Award: three days of orienteering and two days camping and feeding themselves. All this, and in a place they had never been to before...
This module was the expedition for our silver award team to be assessed in a new territory of Ashdown Forest. The team were in extremely high spirits through their three days and were absolutely brilliant in their map reading and navigation despite having to navigate their way through difficult open access areas, which they have not had physical experience of before.
Every checkpoint was placed on time and on each day they returned to camp on schedule. They also had to cook for themselves each evening and morning, after and before their journeys.
On the final day, the team spent some time exploring 500 acre woods, finding the homes of Winnie the Pooh characters and creating their own film on a Go Pro based on the Winnie the Pooh characters for their expedition project. They even finished off their day by visiting Pooh bridge and playing Pooh sticks themselves, just like in the AA. Milne novels. The silver team showed resilience, determination and absolute teamwork in order to successfully pass their silver expedition with even the assessor saying this was the best team he had seen in his 23 years of Duke of Edinburgh experience. Well done to our very own Year 10 ‘Dudes of Edinburgh’!
The Team
The Duke of Edinburgh Award @ The Leigh would not be possible without the dedication of the team of staff who do all their work behind the scenes and spend weekends out monitoring the students' progress, as they complete their expeditions - one teacher drove over 100 miles for the Bronze expedition!
Part of the role of a Duke of Edinburgh leader is to ensure that all training is up to date, so that the events can take place safely. First aid is an important part of the training, just in case an accident happens and below is a picture of the team having just brushed up their first aid skills .
We cannot thank the team enough for everything they do to ensure that our students have access to a range of life-changing activities whilst they are students at The Leigh Academy.
