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All members of the school are invited at some stage in their school career to join the Scheme. Its aim is to involve young people in a balanced non-competitive programme of voluntary activities which encourage responsibility, self-reliance and perseverance. Although minimum standards of achievement are laid down for some activities, the emphasis is more on personal challenge than on competition. At the King's School, we organise an extensive programme of activities for the Expeditions section at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels and run a First Aid course for the Service section at Bronze level. We also offer help and advice to individual students for all sections of the Award. Completion of an Award requires a great deal of commitment and effort on top of studies and other school activities - it is not an easy way of gaining a medal! - but a good number of students in recent years have earned their Bronze or Silver qualifications and a few have even managed Gold. Gold Award assessment 29 October to 2 November 2008 Training and assessment dates for 2008-2009 View galleries of photos of training expeditions in the Berwyns and at Beddgelert D of E gold assessed expedition - Summer 2006 The annual gold assessed expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme took place at the end of the summer holidays. The three groups met on Monday 28 August (Bank Holiday Monday) in the sports hall for a briefing and kit check with the assessor and me. All the pupils had to empty their carefully packed rucsacs out onto the sports hall floor and, after checking, try to get it all back in again. This was the first of many challenges which the expedition would throw at them! We met again on the following day at 9am in Llanfairfechan. It was a bright and breezy start on the sea front and everyone was in good spirits despite having driven for an hour and a half to get there. Each group, in turn, got into the minibus I was driving and directed me to the start of their route. Then they were off on their own. While they negotiated the wilds of Snowdonia, the assessor, safety supervisor and I travelled to the first check point. All three groups navigated well and stayed on track, despite the variable weather. They arrived at the first campsite safely but, far from the hard work being over for the day, they then had to put up tents and cook their food while being harassed by the chickens wandering around the site! No-one was lucky enough to catch one of the chickens (although several people tried) so pasta with tomato and basil sauce had to suffice. An event-free night ensured that everyone remained in good spirits for the start of day two. The groups got underway in good time on the second day and made checkpoints successfully. By mid-afternoon, one pupil was having trouble with blisters and had to stop before the final ascent to the wild camp. It started to rain at about the same time so the groups had to pitch camp in some horrible conditions. The rain continued to fall for the rest of the night (and the whole of the next day), getting heavier and heavier. The safety supervisor camped near the wild camp and instructed the groups that he should only be disturbed in an emergency. Early the following morning, some of the pupils went to inform him that there was ‘some water’ in their tent. He was not surprised that the tents had leaked a bit after a night of such heavy rain but went to take a look ‘to humour them’. He could not believe what he saw. A stream had sprung up during the night and was flowing straight into the tents! Everything in the tents was soaked. The assessor and safety supervisor took the decision to bring the groups down to the minibus near Beddgelert instead of carrying on with the planned routes. We took the pupils (still miraculously in good spirits) to a café and sorted out the wet kit. The safety supervisor and I then spent a good many hours in a launderette in Porthmadog drying sleeping bags and clothing. I am sure that laundering underwear for sixth form boys is not in my job description! It was quite an experience for us all. The final day of walking began with some light rain but nothing compared to the previous day. All three groups got underway well and met the checkpoints successfully, although one group lost their map in a river and had to retrieve it. As they approached the finish of their fifty mile walk the sun came out. Parents began to gather at Harlech castle and we waited anxiously for them. The first group to arrive consisted of Abbas Bowen, Joe Langton, David Reid, Richard Thomas and Rohit Srinivasan. After a quick chat with the assessor and posing for some photos, they were taken home by their parents for a well-earned and much-needed soak in the bath. The second group to arrive contained Hannah Cliffe, Iain Braid, Pranav Khamar, Emma Liddiard-Williams and Will Cunningham. The final group consisted of Seb Deering, Phil Bowyer, Liam West, Kenny Macfadyen, Jordan Murray, William Fletcher and Nick Hardie. This group had arrived on the first day in matching pink t-shirts and baseball caps. They caused quite a stir as they marched along the main street in Harlech. All three groups showed great camaraderie, resilience and fitness throughout the four days and my congratulations go to them. They were great fun and a pleasure to be with. Mrs S H Gareh View galleries of photographs taken on Gold Award training expeditions in the Berwyn mountians and at Beddgelert.
If for any reason you can't find what you are looking for, have a look in our alphabetical list, or contact us on the following e-mail: info@kingschester.co.uk |
The
Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme encourages responsibility and self-reliance.