D of E Gold Expedition

Year 12 pupils take part in the Duke of Edinburghs Gold Award

31 of our year 12 students passed the expedition section of their D of E Gold Award this summer.  This expedition took place over 5 days in the Peak District.  The pupils had to walk 20km a day carrying full packs over mountainous terrain.  This trip followed the training expedition, which saw the pupils walking over the mountains of Dartmoor carrying all of their equipment.

The quality of the participants was extremely high and the routes we undertook were slightly more demanding than last year, which made them far more difficult than the minimum standard required to achieve the award. The weather was extremely kind to us and it certainly contributed to the ease with which all the participants completed their routes.

The highlight, as usual, was watching the teams come together to become greater than the sum of their parts.  Once again, our assessors commented on the remarkable ability of Balcarras children to form cohesive groups.  Apparently this stands out from some of the other schools that they work with. The unlikely heroes of the week were Lucas Birchmore, Bea Payne and Tom Lythgoe who  transformed the Starfish group's performance for the better since their practice expedition. The Platypus group were also notable for their all round excellence and their high morale.

"I felt extremely proud to be associated with such excellent students and staff throughout this expedition." said Mr Niblett organiser of the expedition.

If you would like to be involved in the Duke of Edinburghs award at school then have a look at the page on the website here, we run Bronze and Gold expeditions.  If you would like more information on the award itself and what it entails then see here

Mr Niblett