Congratulations to our Year 9 and 10 girls who spent the bank holiday weekend (5/6 May 2018) doing their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award practice (Year 9) or assessed (Year 10) expeditions in the New Forest. The weekend entailed a very early start from Farnborough Hill on Saturday morning, two days of walking (at least 6 hours each day, covering 12 to 15 kilometres), camping overnight and being totally self-sufficient in food. The girls planned their own routes, worked in teams, carried everything they needed on their backs, navigated bogs and coped with the particularly hot weather. They rose to the challenge with enthusiasm and energy and in the case of the Year 10s, they all successfully completed the expedition element of the award. The Year 9s learnt a lot and will be able to put this into practice when they are assessed later this term.
With the assessed expedition now achieved, many of the Year 10s are keen to embark on the Silver Award. Plans are underway for the practice expedition to take place on Dartmoor in June, with the assessed expedition in September in the Peak District. Further expeditions for the current Year 9s will take place later in the coming academic year.
This is what one group of Year 9 girls said about the weekend:
“What a fabulous weekend! Despite our group walking quite a bit further than anticipated and bringing half the mud from the New Forest home with us, we have had a great couple of days! We have learnt how to pitch tents on our own, cook food on the trangia and carry the weight of a 5-year-old child on our backs. We have learnt however that our map reading skills could do with a little bit more work and we would like to thank Mr Temple for his patience and good humour when things were not going quite as planned. We can't wait for the assessed expedition in a few weeks!”
Thank you to Mrs Georgina Brocklehurst who coordinates the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Farnborough Hill and to all the staff who accompanied the girls. They were Mrs Mary Wilson, Mrs Keren Butler, Mrs Katja Jackson, Mr Scott Temple and Mr Emanuele Maccherini. We are also grateful to the nine external DofE staff and the six assessors who helped to make the whole weekend such a success.