Year 10s complete Bronze DofE with flying colours

After delays due to Lockdown, the Year 10 students picked up where they left off with their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 October, starting with a day of training and an expedition in the local area.

The first part of day 1 involved a pre-expedition kit check carried out by the Adventure Expeditions instructors, and this was followed by a walking expedition around the Cymbeline Meadows area of Colchester.

After successfully navigating their way around the route and heading back to school, the girls received training on using Trangia stoves so that they could cook a hot meal on both days. All manner of meals were enjoyed such as risotto, pasta and noodles! Towards the end of the afternoon each group was challenged to put up a tent; a task made particularly tricky since the only two team members allowed to touch the tent were blindfolded! The rest of their teammates had to describe exactly what the girls needed to do. The winning team were the ‘Wet Wipes’ who successfully put up their tent first and were awarded the prize of some well-deserved chocolates!

On day 2, the DofE group headed to the Leiston and Dunwich area, offering a welcome change of scenery for the next phase of their expedition. The routes that they had marked out the day before provided some good areas to practice their navigation skills and there were lots of opportunities for the girls to make lasting memories together. Hot meals were prepared at the end of the walk, before everyone headed back to school on the coach. The girls fulfilled the requirements of the Bronze DofE expedition really well and all passed with flying colours. They had a fantastic time, showing great resilience in the chilly weather and not even the sharp downpours dampened anyone’s mood!