This half term, we embarked on our first Duke of Edinburgh expedition of the year. We were to be away for the whole weekend, and our adventure started at Bishops Heber High School in Malpas. Our assessment was based on our ability to orienteer and find our way across difficult terrain. The only items we had to help us were maps, a compass and start and end locations! Before we set off, our team carefully planned our route. We travelled across Cheshire and Bickerton Hill before arriving at Beeston where we stayed for the night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a case of getting  straight into bed in a 5* hotel,  we had to pitch our own tents before camping for the night.  We also had to cook our own meal and then wash up after ourselves; most of us don’t even do this at home! By the time we had cleaned up, we were exhausted so relaxed around the camp fire putting the world to rights and anticipated what the morning would bring.

The next day, we left our campsite behind and headed for Tattenhall where we successfully completed our assessment. It was a long and tiring expedition, but it was more than worth it for the Bronze Award that we achieved!

The external moderator, a person from the Duke of Edinburgh assessment board,  assessed our abilities at checkpoints and at camp. They had some fantastic comments about our group as a whole:

'The group arrived well prepared for their expedition. They worked well as a team to overcome any navigation errors and difficulties that occurred during their journey.  They were a pleasure to be with, and I wish them every success with their Silver Award.'

Mr Lacey and Mrs Roberts had a great time, too, and had plenty to say about the experience of working with a group of Year 11 students on the move! Mrs Roberts said, ‘It was a pleasure to give up my weekend for motivated and resilient students who didn’t give up even when faced with tough challenges. They were a credit to our school and I felt proud to call them ‘our students’.

By DofE Students, Year 11