During Enrichment Week, our Silver Award DofE students embarked on their qualifier expedition to the Peak District. Imie L (10H), Livvy S (10N), Emma X (10W) and Beverley Y (10W) share their insightful accounts of this character-building trip below and Anna B (10S), captures the essence of the expedition with her brilliant A-Z compilation of photographs. We also include video footage of a very special rendition of the '12 Days of DofE'. Well done Year 10! 

OUR SILVER EXPEDITION, IMIE L AND LIVVY S

On our Silver DofE qualifying expedition we learned a range of new skills and life experiences from navigating through vast fields to singing a rendition of the '12 days of Christmas DofE edition'!

We started the first day by meeting our instructors and briefly going over the core skills. Once we had our map routes, we were off, ready to tackle the 12km journey ahead! After trudging through many fields we were met with our first challenge, a vertical hill and there was only one way to go, and that was up. With lots of resilience and a couple of breaks we were able to conquer it and upon reaching the top we were greeted by the beauty of the Peak District. Once reaching the campsite, we tucked into our boil-in-the-bag meals and retreated to our tents where we swiftly entered a peaceful sleep as we were all tired from the day's adventures.

On our second day we woke up bright and early ready for the day's travels. We ventured through numerous sheep fields, and after going slightly in the wrong direction, we managed to get back on track and walk through a beautiful valley in which the view was breathtaking and made the climb worth it! As we neared the campsite, we were faced with a tremendously muddy ditch as deep as the Mariana Trench! Fortunately we all managed to overcome and cross the ditch with only the loss of a shoe!

We all found the morning of the last day easier than the others due to our boundless motivation to make the ultimate push to our final destination. Unlike the other days we trekked through many cow fields which at first were intimidating but gradually we enjoyed the company of the large mammals and eventually began approaching and feeding them. When we reached our destination we immediately dropped to the floor from exhaustion with proud smiles on our faces.

Overall DofE was a life-changing experience that has helped us in many ways, such as strengthening our mental resilience, forming closer connections with our friends and learning practical new skills, which we will surely use as we navigate through life's ups and downs while also having fun with our friends!

MY SILVER EXPEDITION, EMMA X

It was the first time as a foreign student I was  involved in the DofE award, and in our group there were 5 people. We did really well at teamwork, even though it is very tiring and at times, we even wanted to give up. Rose-Ellen is really great at motivation, Anna is brilliant at map reading and using the compass as well, Lizzie is great at lighting the fire, so we could cook every day to make sure we had enough energy. Beverly always shared her spare snacks with us to encourage us to keep moving on. We also learned how to set up a tent, which we had never tried before.

In my opinion it is a really good opportunity to stay close to nature, something which is very precious in society now. We left our phones at school and made friends with cows and sheep. We also did a fun activity as well, we took photos of the things that start with every letter of the alphabet. In addition, it is also hard for us to speak English all the time, but we tried our best to do so, and found that really developed our relationships and communication. 

MY SILVER EXPEDITION, BEVERLEY Y

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a very meaningful activity. This was also my first time participating in an outdoor wild walk, everything was new and strange to me!  When I experienced the wild walk, I felt more tired than ever. It was actually the first time I walked 30,000 steps in three days, almost 30 kilometers, in terrible conditions, no shower, living in a tent and experiencing the cold outdoors, which even kept me awake at night. But our team was very friendly and helpful. With our team cooperation, we finished the daily hike ahead of schedule.

Under the leadership of our two captains, we didn't get lost and although we were tired, we felt unprecedented relaxation as we chatted along the way. It was a very good opportunity to get close to nature, and to a variety of animals, which can be difficult in our modern society. The Duke of Edinburgh said that the expedition is not an easy task - you need to have super perseverance and never say die ambition, so that in the face of all kinds of difficulties, you stick to it and get to the end! With the comfort and encouragement of my teammates, I grew in confidence and courage. Every day when I was hungry and cold at night, my teammates and I persevered. This team work is rare and valuable, so I think the Duke of Edinburgh Award means a lot to me.

OUR A-Z OF DofE, ANNA B