Upper Sixth Students Complete Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award

Ten Upper Sixth Students from King’s have completed their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award; a remarkable achievement whilst still at school.

Acting Head, Dr Oliver, presented the students with Head’s Commendation certificates on Tuesday morning to celebrate their outstanding success. They will be officially presented with their Duke of Edinburgh certificates at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace later this year.

There are a further 12 Upper Sixth pupils who are currently working towards completion of their Gold Award, and it is expected that many of these will have done so by the end of the summer.

All King’s Gold award participants completed their Qualifying Expedition last summer, in the challenging conditions in the Northern Lake District. The students were required to hike for over eight hours each day, navigating the rugged terrain in difficult weather conditions.

In addition to the Qualifying Expedition, each student has attended a Residential course as part of their Award. This has involved being away from home for a minimum of four nights and five days in unfamiliar surroundings, with the majority of participants being unknown to each other. Residentials have so far included a military fitness boot camp, a cookery course, an outdoor activities course, a sailing course and a pre-university course.

Participants have also volunteered as sports leaders, mentors/tutors, in a hospital and as a church cleaner.

Each student deserves credit for their commitment to the Gold Award, which takes a significant amount of time in addition to their studies. Volunteering at Gold is 12 months, the physical or skill section is 12 months, with the remaining section taking six months.

The scheme is renowned for helping young people develop communication, leadership, and teamwork skills, build empathy and gain confidence for life beyond King’s.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a particular strength at King’s Worcester, with the school regularly seeing an extremely high completion rate across the three award levels of compared to other independent schools in the county.