This year has seen a good number of students successfully complete their DofE at various levels. 59 have completed their Bronze, 24 Silver and 6 Gold awards. On May 13th Joe Brakoniecki was the first of the Gold award students to attend a celebration event in the garden at Buckingham Palace along with 8000 other award holders. A great achievement by Joe and all the others, who will attend their celebration events later in the year. With continued support from parents at home and us in school we hope to see many more get the last few bits of evidence submitted and many more students be given their DofE award next year. 

Gold Duke of Edinburgh 

The Gold Team of students completed their practice expedition in June based around Corfe Castle and walking over the hills on the Isle of Purbeck. On a generally bright and sunny weekend the students pushed themselves physically to get a good feel for the challenges ahead in the wilds of Dartmoor. Successfully navigating across the flatlands from Studland to East Creech Farm Campsite in the shadow of the Corfe ridge, the teams arrived at camp where tents were pitched and food cooked. With most opting for boil in the bag or dehydrated food, the washing up was happily minimal for most. 

The second day saw them having to climb over the Corfe Ridge, complete a circular route around the undulating and picturesque scenery before returning to camp, slightly weary, for another evening of eating and relaxing with their friends and teammates.    

The final day was a simple walk through Wareham to the end point near Farmer Palmers and the lure of a welcome break before Dartmoor and the 4 day expedition! Saturday 13th July dawned bright and with the students arriving in school at 8:15 we were packed and away by 9:00am. After a few hours of travelling the terrain changed and with the minibus struggling up some 20 & 25% climbs the team landed in Princetown. A quick bit to eat before they were led out of town to practice navigation on the moor with the staff and discover the nature of the terrain. A couple of hours of hard walking and navigating brought them to Hessary Tor and the direct and very well-trodden path back to Princetown. Heading East to Hexworthy and the base camp at Huccaby Farm the students ate well in the restaurant before a good night’s sleep and a full English prepared by the staff to send them off hopefully with full energy reserves. A beautiful day, heading north to the wild camping location beyond Postbridge and a pending Football Final left some of the team dreaming of a TV and streaming facilities. Although the setting and sunset was far more desirable than watching the football!

The following day was a completely different day, low visibility, persistent rain, though not too heavy, and shortened routes for safety, brought the team into camp and under the events shelter for a morale building hot chocolate and “camp doughnut”. Jamie Oliver would not sanction these for a healthy school dinner but they work wonders on bedraggled DofErs. 

As the teams awoke and prepped to leave, we could see the weather moving away and by 10:00am the rain had cleared. The next 2 days saw the teams head out to a second beautiful venue to wild camp near Hartor Tor before walking out to Shipley Bridge. 

Everyone beaming as they saw the minibus and walked the last few steps, but not as much as the choice of KFC, Burger King and McDonalds at the services near Exeter!

A huge well done to the team of students and a massive thankyou to everyone that makes DofE run! Mrs Warner and Mr Stevens for coming away from their families for 5 days and for Mr Stevens assessing the team. Mrs Faulkner-Smith for helping with planning and running of all the DofE expeditions and for the continuing support checking through evidence and assessor’s reports. The Operations team in school and Mr Hallam for all their help booking coaches and minibuses and double-checking risk assessments and additional paperwork.