Wider Curriculum

Silver & Bronze Assessed Expedition

The second of the 2023 Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions took place on 16th – 18th June on Ashdown Forest. Our silver groups met early on Friday morning to ensure they had time to complete the minimum 7 hours of walking before reaching the campsite. Our final three bronze groups met on the Saturday morning, setting off slightly later, after being briefed by their assessors to ensure they could complete their 6-hour journey time.

The students are expected to work as a team to navigate their way from a start point to the campsite, passing checkpoints on route where they check in with staff before continuing. They carry everything they need for the weekend including tents, cooking stoves and food, in addition to clothing and sleeping bags. For the bronze groups they complete two days of walking and one overnight camp. For the silver assessed expedition, it is a three-day adventure with two overnight camps. All the students were successful in

The expedition presents both personal challenges to overcome and team work in tricky circumstances circumstances, therefore it is a credit to the participants that they navigated these successfully.

Our groups sported team colour rucksack covers funded by a grant from the Duke of Edinburgh’s award. Not only did they look amazing but it helped completing the expedition which is an amazing achievement. us to identify our groups from a distance and generally helped with the remote supervision which is under-taken by the supporting staff.

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition

On Friday 30 June, four students set off to the campsite at Baysbrown, Great Langdale Valley in the Lake District to complete their Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Despite bad weather and inclement conditions, the students proved their experience and skill, with the TrekCo team of assessors praising all students for their determination, organization and team work. The trip was a huge success and all students passed.

The group worked really well together as a team, helping to motivate each other and finding humour in the less-than-wonderful weather conditions. Congratulations to all involved!