21 Jun Bronze Expedition Success
Last week, two groups of students embarked upon the challenge of the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award qualifying expedition. The first group from Year 10 set out on Friday 7th June from the southern tip of Epping Forest near Whipps Cross Hospital and made their way to an overnight camp in High Beech. The weather was not ideal as the groups departed from the start in torrential rain, but to their credit no-one complained and they made it to the finish point in reasonable time. The groups had also managed to make a marked improvement in their ability to work together as a team when compared to their performance on the practice expedition which was really great to see. Once again Reece Ward who uses an electric wheelchair could participate alongside his peers thanks to the generous funding from the D of E Diamond Fund which enabled us to hire a specialised light weight off road wheelchair from a company called ‘Beyond the Boundary’.
On the second day the weather was a little brighter which lifted everyone’s spirits, but didn’t stop both groups getting a little bit lost on their way to the finish point. Never mind though – it’s all part of Bronze D of E! Thanks to all the students involved for their hard work and positive attitude in spite of the awful weather, and to the staff who supported them.
On 11th and 12th June it was the turn of a group of Year 9 students to complete their expedition. They too started out at the southern tip of Epping Forest aiming for High Beech. Their aim for the expedition was to light a fire without using matches or a lighter and to cook on it. Thanks to the perseverance and resilience of Yasmeen Rizk they did manage to do this and enjoyed a warm fire and then toasted some tasty marsh mallows on the embers.
On the morning of their second day Yasmeen was once again in action getting a fire started and making hot chocolate using a Ghillie Kettle. The weather was reasonable in the morning but deteriorated towards the afternoon, and the group were very grateful to finish one checkpoint early and promptly fell sound asleep in the minibus on the way back to school.
Congratulations and well done to all the students involved, who were all in Year 10: Nicola Hicks, Tolu Famelegun, Devikha Ahtty, Michael Idahosa, Gopal Goswami, Ini Philips, Harrison Whyte, Josiah Ugowe, Reece Ward and Posi Oyebola. In Year 9, Frankie Sedge, Alin Gingioveanu, Lewis Martin, Cayden Eagleton, Yasmin Rizk, Eniola Koleowo. I would also like to thank Mr Hill, Mr Dignam, Miss Mir Miss Hall and Mr Kilminster for their support and for the encouragement and advice that they gave to the students during last week.
Ms Montague
D of E Manager
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