Duke of edinburgh

As ever this has been a busy year with seventy five members of Year 10 enrolling at Bronze Level between October and June this year. At Bronze, they cover four areas to complete the Award: skill, volunteering, physical education where two are for three months and one for six months, they then finish the Bronze Award with their practice and assessed expeditions which take place between May and September. This year quite a few participants have covered a range of activities and it has been pleasing to see them gain extra certifications in lifesaving, first aid and sports leadership. These activities often can fulfil two areas gaining the certificate is the skill and the using it to support others constitutes volunteering. Many of the skill and sports activities are completed through school by utilising existing interests.

The expedition section regularly proves to be the most challenging ranging from coping with basic facilities to what to do if/when I get lost. We have been especially fortunate this year to have had ideal conditions on the majority of trips. This year we have operated six Bronze expeditions in Derbyshire and Shropshire with a variety of drop off points and campsites. Many girls have got lost and have either found themselves or been found by staff.

I am pleased to report that forty two will receive their Awards next month.

There has been less activity at Silver this year. Many ex – Bronze participants chose to focus on other matters including exams. However we were fortunate to have a Silver Expedition Assessment in Shropshire with eight Y12 (now 13) completing this and all eight will receive their awards shortly:

Emily Presswood, Charlie Smalley, Katy Waller, Miriam Cox, Charlotte Leaper, Mia Smart, Kara Mayor, Katherine Haycock.

We are hoping to run both silver and gold expeditions in 2012 at Easter and during the summer holidays.

However none of this would be possible without the work of Mr Eckley and Mr Revitt both in preparing the girls for their ventures and acting as supervisors whilst I have assessed. I am pleased to announce that Mr Eckley will be an accredited assessor from November. There are copies of blank route cards available on Moodle thanks to Mr Eckley. So no excuse for late planning team 2012!

I would also like to thank all of the parents who have offered transport to various drop-off and collection points, especially those who have run the gauntlet of the M6 and M54 on a Friday afternoon and your patience in waiting for the team to assemble.

Miss M Meredith

Assistant Headteacher

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