On the weekend of June 20th, Year 10 students completed their Bronze Qualifying expedition across the Chilterns. Divided into five groups, 30 students started out from a different location to trek toward their campsite near Burnham Beeches.

Once settled at camp, they successfully pitched their tents and prepared their own meals using Trangia stoves. Facing extremely hot weather on Sunday, the groups set off very early for the final leg, arriving at the Hodgemoor Woods finish point ahead of schedule due to some excellent navigation.

Our Year 10 Journalist Leads wrote about the expedition:

Sofia B: I was in a group of five with Romilly B, Nishka P, Sophia A and Lottie M. We started off the day not in the best of spirits as we couldn’t find the start point for our group- it’s a good job we could look at Google Maps and What 3 Words at that point! Then we finally found Dr Barrett and after a few checks that we had the right equipment, we set off at 9:00.

The day was long and hot but we managed to have lots of fun! One of the highlights on the first day was when Miss Newman bought us ice cream at one of the checkpoints! At the end of the day our group (nicknamed silver bullets because of our grey rucksack covers) came in first in 8 hours, arriving at the campsite at 5pm.  We set up our tents, unpacked our stuff and made dinner on the Trangia which surprisingly didn’t taste too bad!

In the morning we woke up very early at 5:30 am to try and get the expedition done as early as possible to avoid the heat. So, we set off after having breakfast at 7:30, feeling quite sore and tired but excited for the day ahead. We actually ended up doing really well despite the heat, reaching halfway at 10:00. However, due to the heat we took lots of breaks in the afternoon and ended up arriving at the finish at 2:00. Overall I really enjoyed the whole experience. The teachers were really nice and I had so much fun with my friends. I would definitely do Silver next year!

Zara and Priya: Our group was made up of seven people, and we started off in really high spirits, with great navigation and fun music playing from Yasmine’s speaker. Once we met up with Mrs Arnold at our first checkpoint, we were all ready to start our DofE expedition! This quickly faded when we ended up stranded on someone’s driveway, waiting for Dr Barrett to come and help us cross a busy road. Some of our most memorable moments were when we got lost in a field of stinging nettles, got attacked by ants, lost the school phone and had to beg a farmer to use his and were saved by our hero, Miss Newman, after a very eventful two days. Overall, we learnt lots, and despite the sweltering heat and the many, many times we got lost, the whole experience was definitely a bonding experience to say the least!

DofE co-ordinator Mrs Arnold was very proud of the entire year group on completing their challenge, saying “Over the course of three expeditions, including this weekend’s particularly demanding conditions, students demonstrated remarkable resilience, determination and teamwork. Despite the challenges posed by the heat, fatigue and occasional navigational difficulties, they rose to every challenge and completed the expedition section of their Award with maturity and perseverance.

I would also like to recognise what an exceptional year group this has been. Across all three expeditions, supervising staff consistently commented on the students’ positive attitude, willingness to support one another and the excellent standards they maintained at camp. Their conduct throughout the programme has been a credit to both themselves and the school, and they should be extremely proud of what they have achieved.”

Well done to all our DofE-ers and a big thank you to Mrs Arnold, Miss Newman, Mr Cruice, Mr Desai and Dr Barrett for helping all weekend!