Mr Farrell (DofE Manager)

It was a very busy start to the school year for students completing expeditions as part of their Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

We kicked off our Autumn expedition season in and around the villages of North Bedfordshire with students from Years 10 and 11 completing their Bronze qualifying expedition. The teams navigated two-day routes that started and finished in Harrold Country Park via Bromham. The conditions over the weekend were quite changeable with drizzle on day one to glorious sunshine on the second day. From navigating along the routes and correcting themselves when they (momentarily) got lost, to cooking a hot meal for the team on a camping stove, all team members played their part in the successful completion of the expedition.

During the first weekend of half term, students from the Upper Sixth successfully completed their Gold qualifying expedition in the Yorkshire Dales. The two walking groups had planned a challenging route, across open moorland through the heart of the National Park. This took in the spectacular limestone cliffs of Malham Tarn and the peaks of Pen-Y-Gent and Ingleborough. Throughout the expedition, the groups encountered extremely wet conditions with heavy rain and mist on all four days. Visibility was sometimes very restricted and conditions underfoot were quite slippery in places.

Both teams took the conditions in their stride and were very cheerful throughout. Their standard of navigation, camping and cooking was excellent and despite the rain and lack of views of this lovely part of the country, all had a great time. Well done!

The final expedition of the season was a Silver training and practice in the Cotswold Hills around to the north of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Autumn was definitely setting in with short days and cold nights experienced over the weekend. Day one was a training day at the campsite with the students from Years 10 and 11 plotting their walking routes; planning (and shopping for) their evening meals that they cooked themselves and putting up tents. Day two saw the groups brushing up on their navigational skills by following a route around the English Civil War battlefield site of Edge Hill. The final day saw the groups putting the skills learnt into action with them walking independently on a route that they planned themselves whilst carrying all their equipment to a finish point in the village of Hook Norton. The terrain in the area was definitely hillier than in Bedfordshire and provided a good challenge to the groups which they rose to very well!

Looking forward to 2022, we have a full season of expedition planned for all three award levels. We will be visiting the Peak District; a return trip to the Yorkshire Dales and for the first time will be going down to the South Downs.

A big thank you to all the staff who have helped over these expeditions and have contributed to the success of each of them. The expedition section is a real highlight of the Award for many of the participants and without their support it wouldn’t be possible to run them.