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Duke of Edinburgh Silver Practice Expedition |
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Twenty brave Year 11 students set out on Friday afternoon on their first Silver Duke of Edinburgh expedition. They faced three days of walking over the hills of south Shropshiretotalling a distance of 40km.The weatherwas obviously a concern and all students were prepared to face the elements. As it turned out, Mother Nature was kind and the rain held off and we even had sunshine on the Sunday. The students completed a short 5 km walk on the Friday to acclimatise themselves to the conditions and then camped at Chapel Lawn Farm, south of Clun. The walk on Saturday began shortly before 10am with the students walking along Offa's Dyke. The conditions under foot were a little tricky with some students taking the odd tumble but nothing stopped them from completing the walk. The night time temperatures plummeted on the second night to just above freezing and as such it was a difficult night for some. The final day always starts with high spirits as the prospect of a warm bath and hot food draw nearer. Unfortunately for one group this sense of nearing completion soon disappeared as they made a significant navigational error and ended up walking back towards the campsite after 3 hours of walking. With their spirits somewhat dampened they had to start making some correct decisions and they did just that, managing the tricky journey through to Hopton Castle with ease. It is a great aspect of the Duke of Edinburgh award that students face these lows but have to overcome them as a group. By 4pm all students had made it to our finish point at Purslow and as usual they were full of stories about their achievement. Congratulations to all the students who are now looking forward to their qualification camp on the Long Mynd.
A special thank you also to the staff who gave up their Bank Holiday Weekend to give the students this opportunity - Mrs Devlin, Mr Flood, Mr McInerney, Mr Robinson and Mr Thomas.
Jeremy Baker (Silver Duke of Edinburgh Leader)
Assistant Headteacher
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