Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh

Over the past few years, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme has been hugely successful, with students achieving awards at Bronze, Silver and Gold level. At the prestigious Gold level, an impressive 15 students achieved awards, including three students who had the honour of attending a presentation ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The College enjoys rates of achievement which are consistently above the regional average, and we must congratulate our students for this.

In January 2019, St Edmund’s renewed its licence as a Directly Licensed Organisation, and we enjoyed a glowing review from the Regional team of the work we have done over the past three years. We look forward to building on our successes over the years to come. Our March training day was very successful, with students learning key skills to help them with their preparation, navigation, and camp craft.

At the end of the Lent term, students at Silver and Gold level successfully completed their practice walking expeditions. For the Gold groups this took place in the stunning Brecon Beacons and the Silver groups enjoyed the beautiful Peak District.

In 2019, a huge number of students signed up to Bronze level. The expeditions in April and June took place in the Chiltern Hills, where they completed a self-sufficient expedition and fulfil their groups’ aims. They enjoyed stunning weather for the first day, and the downpours of the second day only served to make the groups more determined!

In other sections of the award, students undertook an impressive range of activities including volunteering at Jump Zone, learning martial arts, and developing skills as varied as debating, cooking and learning business skills. When the first lockdown arrived in March 2020, many students were of course concerned about how they would complete their Awards. Fortunately, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme were quick to offer alternatives for elements which could not be completed as planned. Although the 2020 expeditions had to be deferred, students demonstrated great adaptability in changing their activities for the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections of the Award.

We are all eager to return to 'normal' life, and this most definitely includes that famous stalwart of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award: the expedition. We are hopeful that 2021 will see St Edmund's College students once again donning their rucksacks and heading out to demonstrate their independence, resilience and great capacity for teamwork.

Mrs J Colbran - Duke of Edinburgh Co-Ordinator