Easter Duke of Edinburgh

During the Easter holidays, 12 DLD students from years 11-13 took part in a 3 day Duke of Edinburgh Silver practice expedition in the New Forest. The expedition was a great success with all 12 students doing exceptionally well! The students completed the expedition on foot, and were totally self-sufficient throughout the three days. This meant that they had to carry all the food and kit they used and had to navigate, cook and put up tents on their own. Their navigation, resilience, team work and camp craft improved immensely over the three days, and both teams successfully completed the predetermined routes set which covered areas of forest, hills, villages and moorland. To begin with, staff shadowed the groups to ensure they were working well as a team and navigating safely, however by day 3 the groups were able to set off on their own to be met at checkpoints by staff. Over the course of the 2 days the groups covered a distance of nearly 60km in total. Based on the practice hike, both groups are in really good shape ahead of the assessed expedition which will take place during the Summer holidays. During the expedition, the students were joined by DLD staff, Charlie, Jan, Gina and Alex along with Arly the Dog (who thoroughly enjoyed getting muddy and stealing sticks!).

Charlie Pinel
Head of Send & DofE Co-Ordinator