In July two students from South Hunsley School attended a presentation at Buckingham Palace Gardens, London, where they received their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards after sharing their experiences with Trustee for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), HRH The Earl of Wessex. We congratulate Hannah Greenwood and Cara Allison on their fantastic achievement and wish them all the best for their future endeavours.
During the Gold Award Presentation, HRH took the opportunity to congratulate the group from South Hunsley on their successes and heard about their DofE journeys, which took each young person 12-18 months of hard work and dedication.
Those who achieve a Gold DofE Award will volunteer, learn a skill, get fit, take part in a week long residential and plan and undertake an expedition in wild country. Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people, DofE programmes enable any young person, aged 14-24, to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment and team working.
On a more local note, 57 pupils were awarded with DofE Awards during a ceremony in Riding Hall in September – 44 of which were awarded Bronze Award, 6 received Silver Awards and 10 achieved a Gold Award. We are proud of the positive attitude that students have shown towards the DofE and the Gold Award winners in particular.
To receive their Awards, students took part in a wide range of activities, including;
- Volunteering – helping with Uniformed Organisations and many younger students’ sports & activity groups, helping to organise local ParkRuns, lots of charity fundraising, helping local keyworkers and those isolating and online activities during covid restrictions such as Red Cross Missing Maps project and some citizen science & history projects through Zooniverse website
- Skills – many preforming arts, photography, ICDL, cooking/baking, learning an extra language incl. sign language, cycle & car maintenance
- Physical – all team & individual sports, horse riding, lots of individual keep fit using online links, walking &cycling during Covid restrictions
- Residentials (Gold only) – outdoor pursuits / adventure weeks, helping at children’s summer holiday camps, National Citizenship Service activities, medical research
The Gold DofE award remains one of the most highly-valued qualifications available to students, made that much more prestigious due to the commitment and determination that it demands. Applications to join the programme are accepted from students each September and we very much look forward to many more students receiving the opportunity to attend similar awards events in the future.
