At the end of Term 4 fifty Year 10 students took part in the first of two expeditions they need to complete to qualify for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. In the weeks prior to the expedition they underwent training delivered by the dedicated team of Duke of Edinburgh staff. They were introduced to topics such as living out of doors, travelling on foot, first aid, the country code, how to manage an incident in the outdoors and route planning. The students were asked to select their own expedition groups of no more than seven, in these groups the students then had to plan their routes, what equipment they would carry and what they would eat as a team - no easy task!

Leaving Lamport on Saturday morning in cold and foggy conditions, many of the students (and staff) were wishing they had stayed at home tucked up in their cosy beds. As the teams departed from the start point the weather began to clear. The students left in eight groups, each accompanied by a member of staff, on a gruelling 25km walk over two days. The students carried everything they needed to be self sufficient; from sleeping bags and tents to food and water in rucksacks, sharing the load as a team.

The weather developed into what could only be described as a glorious summer's day (in March!). The teams made the most of the wonderful weather by making good progress and proving that they could use their training by navigating and working well as a team. The students arrived at Overstone Scout ground having all achieved the planned six hours of activity during the day the award demands. With no time to rest their weary feet they then had to make camp, prepare themselves a nutritional meal and have some down time before falling into bed at around, what the students thought was, 9.30pm but was actually 8.30pm. Mr Lenton cunningly told everyone to put their watches forward an hour prior to evening meal and the students were so tired after their challenging day that no one seemed to notice!

On Sunday the students were up and about between 6.00am and 7.30am (which isn't bad for a group of teenagers!) and the first group left Overstone on a full stomach of bacon and camp doughnuts at 8.15am. The teams then faced their biggest test of the expedition when they walked unaccompanied over unfamiliar countryside proving that they could sustain their self sufficiency skills whilst being outside. All the teams arrived in Old after having a challenging day - tired but happy and with a sense of achievement.

Many of the students had never undertaken such a challenge before and to their credit they worked hard to overcome a number of obstacles that they encountered during the weekend including sore feet, aching limbs and lack of sleep.  All the staff and students involved had a fantastic weekend and I feel incredibly proud to have shared this experience with such dedicated staff and motivated and committed young people.