Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards for Emily and Chris
Hard work, resilience and determination has paid off for former students Emily and Chris as they were awarded their Gold Duke of Edinburgh awards at Buckingham Palace recently at a sun-drenched Garden Party.
Chris, Mr Young and Emily
Open to young people aged 16 to 25, participants design their own personal development programs by committing to five challenging sections: Volunteering, Physical, Skills, an Expedition, and a Residential. There are three levels of achievement: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
The Gold award itself requires participants to take on 12 months of volunteering, skill and Physical activity, plus a residential phase, where participants have to go away for five nights.
Along with a practice and an assessed gold expedition. Which is three nights, four days. For the Gold expedition we offer in school, Chris, who was a direct entry, so he undertook one of the sections for 18 months. Chris did his practice expedition in the Peak District, crossing Kinder and Bleaklow. They had particularly difficult conditions crossing Bleaklow. Their assessed expedition took place in the Lake District, starting in Coniston and ending in Keswick.
Emily did her Silver award with the school, but she undertook her Bronze and Gold with the Air Cadets.
As a school, we offer Bronze in Year 10, Silver in Year 11, Gold in Sixth Form. The expedition is after they have finished all of their GCSE exams.
“On the day itself, we walked in through the front gate, passed the front of the palace and into the garden. There are two military bands playing along with three stages for invited speakers. We also get a cupcake and a DofE mug! ”