Silver Success for Fifth Form DofE Adventurers

Twenty-nine adventurous Fifth Form pupils undertook the post-GCSE challenge of their DofE Silver Assessed Expedition last weekend.

Pupils travelled to the Black Mountains, enjoying some fine Welsh weather over the two night, three-day expedition along with Mr Ison, Mr Joyce, Mr Cuthbertson, Mr Jackson, Mrs Rutter and Mrs Kent.

This trip built on their practice expedition to Dartmoor in April and was a chance for the pupils to apply the lessons they had learnt. All pupils attended a training day on 2^nd July, where the contents of their bags were carefully scrutinised by their supervisors, and all possible excess weight shed. Routes were finalised by groups and team aims created, as diverse as creating a song to reflect the Countryside Code!

The teams camped on two separate campsites over the two nights, with one being the Old Chapel, the school’s Outdoor Activity Centre. This took many pupils back to their experiences camping whilst in the King’s prep schools.

All teams navigated well and were self-sufficient on the expedition, carrying everything they needed for the three day expedition. The sun shone and all teams successfully completed the expedition, finishing at the scenic Llanthony Priory on Sunday evening.

Pupils presented the findings of the expedition aim back at school and were congratulated on their achievement of passing their Expedition Section.

For a number of the pupils, this was the last section of their Silver award to complete, with many saying that they intended to progress onto their Gold Award in Lower Sixth.

For this, pupils will be further challenged with the terrain of Snowdonia for their practice expedition in April and the Lake District for the assessed expedition next August.