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Prince Philip’s Greatest Legacy
Open to all backgrounds, cultures and abilities, the D of E Award raises young people’s aspirations and resilience. No other programme offers the same range of experiences and opportunities.
Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, was born in 1921 and died this year at the age of 99.
He married Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 and during his 65 years of public life, Prince Philip undertook 22,219 solo engagements, gave 5,496 speeches and wrote 14 books but his greatest legacy is the establishment of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Prince Philip was one of the first pupils to attend Gordonstoun School. Established in 1934, the School offered the Prince a stability and security previously unknown to him following a largely nomadic and lonely childhood. The School was founded by German educationalist Kurt Hahn who later became a personal friend to the Prince and it was at Hahn’s suggestion that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was established in 1955. The award was intended to bridge the gap for young men in the post-war era leaving formal education at 15 and entering into National Service at 18. The award aimed to encourage these men into making the best use of their free time, to find interests and develop new skills as well as a sense of purpose and self- confidence that would support them into their future and help them become well rounded citizens.
Led by Sir John Hunt (later Lord Hunt) the Award had four sections; Rescue and Public Service, Expeditions, Pursuits and Projects and Fitness and proved so successful that by the second year of its existence the project was rolled out to girls and overseas. Over the past 66 years more than eight million people have completed their D of E and almost half a million youngsters in over 130 countries and territories are currently enrolled at either bronze, silver or gold level. The Duke was a lifelong advocate for young people, believing in each individual’s potential and the transformational impact of the Duke of Edinburgh Award on thousands of people across the world will be his everlasting legacy.
In 2020, over 330,000 young people continued with their D of E activities, a huge force for good dedicating 1.8million hours of volunteering from sewing PPE at their kitchen tables to delivering food parcels to those who needed them most.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has always been extremely popular at NHSG with a large percentage of the Year Groups taking part. As School D of E Co-ordinator and Silver Award Leader I have the pleasure to work alongside Mrs Laura Hall (Gold Award Leader) and Mrs Nina Cameron (Bronze Award Leader) who are amazing in
RIP His Royal Highness Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh
ensuring the smooth running of the programme. In true NHSG spirit, our girls have always risen to the challenges at all levels of the Scheme. They undertake a huge variety of activities for the three sections – Physical, Skills and Volunteering. These range from different sporting activities, musical and performing arts qualifications, helping out at Junior School or charity shops and completing First aid courses.
The expeditions always create a plethora of emotions from tears to laughter. The ever changing weather is usually the main cause of tears. We have undertaken expeditions from beautiful sunshine one minute torrential rain, sleet and snow the next. It’s comforting to know that laughter and smiles far outweigh the tears usually at the expense of teachers or other pupils. Incidents such as pupils moving teachers’ tents to another field or on top of vehicles, falling in cowpats, being chased by various forms of wildlife, losing boots in bogs and toilet tents falling over whilst occupied. The list is endless. The start of the Pandemic meant that the normal running of the D of E Programme in school became a huge challenge. Different rules and regulations set by the D of E allowed us to change our usual routines to the benefit of our pupils. Regardless of the easing of these rules the dreaded Covid inevitably affected the implementation of our scheduled trips. After numerous postponements and cancellations the D of E team along with a regular cohort of staff spent a solid two week period at the end of the Summer term out in the hills with pupils from Years 10 and 11 finishing their Bronze Qualifying and Silver Practice expeditions as well as Years 12 and 13 finishing their Silver and Gold Awards. This was a monumental task and everyone rallied together in true NHSG style ensuring the girls successfully completed their expeditions. Luckily, for most of the fortnight, the weather was perfect (sometimes too sunny!). However, the final day for the Gold Expedition on the Simonside Hills proved challenging due to very thick fog and poor visibility but that did not stop our Sixth Formers who continued on with grit and determination.
The next chapter for 2021-22 will, fingers crossed, be back to normal. That means camping under the moonlight, cooking in Trangias, and carrying a full pack of essentials. However, there is always one constant and that is the commitment of our girls and the sense of achievement they feel when they have finished their routes and are back on the coach looking forward to a hot, relaxing bath. A huge thank you to all the staff who regularly sacrifice their valuable time including weekends, office staff behind the scenes, and to my wonderful D of E team for making the programme at NHSG such a huge success.
Dr Kay Gray
