Our Silver Duke of Edinburgh students took part in a practice expedition in the Ashdown forest at the end of July. The expedition lasted four days and it went extremely well. The three teams worked well together to navigate the routes and demonstrated their ability to camp independently, with maturity and great organisational skills. Many thanks to Miss Ruxton, Mr Hughes, Miss Cooney and Miss Leppard for supervising the trip. The assessed expedition in the New Forest went excellently; the groups walked from the seaside at Hurst View campsite all the way to Holmsley campsite. Walking 20 miles over three days with all the camping equipment, food and camping stove is a fantastic achievement.
The assessor was very impressed with our students and I hope they can complete their Volunteering, Physical and Skill sections in order to achieve the full Silver Award, which is internationally recognised. Fingers crossed the students will be eligible and keen to pursue the Gold level afterwards, which will take us to the Lake District and Peak District during the Easter and summer holidays. Many thanks to Mr Jonathan Crowley, our assessor, Mr T Alloway and Miss McDonnell for all their support.
