Thursday, 15 March 2018

We go marching on...

BY PAULINA 10N

Students from years 9 to 11 are joining Duke of Edinburgh from schools all around the country to build up their confidence and to prove to themselves that they can be leaders and great communicators.

What does Duke of Edinburgh give you?
In DofE there are three levels of programmes you can do which, when successfully completed, lead to a bronze, silver or gold award. This is highly valued to sixth forms, colleges and employers, so it looks great on your C.V.

Students from Alperton Community School are taught skills such as cooking, setting up a tent and map reading by Ms. Edwards who gives up her time to run DofE.

Imaan (10N) talked to me about her experience of the bronze award. “It was a fun experience but hard work. It was tiring walking for so many hours.” The challenge she gained from completing her bronze award spurred her on to continue to try to achieve the silver award.

Why should you take part?
In my opinion DofE has many benefits and is an experience that is most enjoyable with friends both in and out of school. Some of the benefits include: a boost of self-confidence, team working skills and learning resilience.

The DofE website explains why it is a great award to be a part of – “Every year, thousands of young people take part in an expedition as part of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. They push themselves out of their comfort zone, enjoying the great outdoors and get a taste of an expedition.”

What is involved?
Every Wednesday after school there is a one-hour session. Here you learn how to plan and route out your maps, cooking or planning the expeditions. The expeditions are usually in the countryside. This means we make friends with cows and horses along our journey! Also these expeditions usually happen during the spring and summer half terms, otherwise we would freeze sleeping outside at the campsite due to the UK’s weather!

Overall, it was a great experience finishing the bronze award and moving onto Silver award. I would recommend that more students join in on this experience.

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