What is the Duke of Edinburgh Award?

Each student sets their own goals and selects their own skill, service, or physical recreation. This year, the students chose a wide range of activities, including:

• Developing public speaking and/or debating skills.
• Developing their musical instrument skills.
• Learning a new language.
• Learning stock trading skills.
• Reading with Primary students and helping in the classroom.
• Helping with Primary PE and clubs.
• Walking dogs and volunteering at an animal sanctuary.
• Playing football.
• Playing tennis.
• Running and jogging.
• Cycling.
• Rollerblading.
• Athletics training.
• Dance training.

It was a fantastic trip, which taught the students not only about navigation, camping, and hiking but also pushed them out of their comfort zones, teaching them how to work as a team and, hopefully, a little bit about themselves.

This was then followed by the “qualifying journey” in March. Carrying all of their equipment for the two days, including tents, poles, pegs, first aid kits, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, all their food, stoves, pans, clothing, and more, the students were divided into their four teams and then dropped off at a remote location (we could see the end of the Caminito del Rey not far away). There, they had to complete the route card, planning their route for the day, and use maps to navigate themselves across some rugged terrain to the campsite. It was a tough, hilly seven-hour hike, which they undertook as a team, finding their way along the route, through checkpoints to refill water and check in with a member of staff. Once at the campsite, they set up camp and cooked their meals in teams before settling down to a wellearned few hours of sleep. The next day began with breakfast, taking down tents, repacking their rucksacks, and preparing the day’s route cards before each team set off for the second day’s hike to another remote location somewhere in the region of Ardales, where they met the bus to return to school.

What Have the Students Achieved?

The Duke of Edinburgh is not an academic award but instead focuses on those soft skills that will be so important for the students’ futures. It is difficult, deliberately so. The physical and mental challenge of the adventurous journey pushes many students to breaking point, wanting to throw in the towel (and jump into a warm shower!), but they all pushed through the physical pain of open blisters, tired legs, aching backs and shoulders, and the mental challenge, knowing they still had hours of hiking to go and getting lost in the campo. It is in these difficult times that not only their personal resilience is challenged but also their ability to work as a team. The old adage “there’s no ‘I’ in team” is especially true when you are in a team that is at a turn in the path, unsure of which way to go, while you are hungry, with throbbing feet, and in need of a rest! The ability to work with your team, to encourage those around you when they are at a low ebb, and to accept help from your teammates when you need support is a life skill that cannot be underestimated and can only truly be learnt through experiences such as this.

In addition, the skill, service, and physical recreation elements teach the importance of perseverance, with the emphasis here on ‘little and often’. The self-satisfaction of learning something new or helping others is, again, something which the experience teaches the Sixth Formers and something we hope they will take into their future lives. In total, by the time all of them have completed the award, they will have done, in addition to the hours on the adventurous journey training and qualifying hikes, 1,404 hours of learning a new skill, providing a service to the local community, and undertaking a regular physical activity.