Friday Headlines
the weekly newsletter from EHS
Girls prepare for DofE Bronze Award
28 June 2019
As part of their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award, a large group of Year 9 pupils spent last weekend in Blackwell Court, practising for their expedition over a 13km trail.
On the first day, the girls found themselves introduced to orienteering with a self-leading workshop around the Blackwell area that would help them survive the
weekend.
The next morning the four groups set off at intervals for a guided walk around the Blackwell area, accompanied by leaders, who helped them to familiarise themselves with the
environment. In the afternoon, the girls embarked on some independent walking on pre-prepared routes. Departing from Blackwell Court in ever-changing weather. Along their
routes, the trekkers logged their arrival at a number of checkpoints, which were monitored throughout the day by Ms López, D of E Bronze Award Leader, and three independent
assessors.
On the second day, a new batch of adventurers took up the D of E challenge. Following some light drizzle overnight, a dry day greeted the groups on Sunday with the morning mist burning off and giving way to glorious sunshine. They followed the same routine and exercises as the previous groups but the kinder weather led to better times for everyone!
To prepare for the expeditions the girls had to meet 20 separate criteria, including ‘cooking a hot substantial meal’ each day; our pupils’ interpretation of ‘cooking’, ‘hot’ and ‘substantial’ varied, but everyone ate well and refuelled.
All the girls seemed to have some sort of ‘mini adventure’ along their orienteering walks, and we loved hearing their tales about encounters with local inhabitants of the
four-legged variety and how one pupil apparently had a close encounter with a field of oil seed crop (no crops were harmed during the encounter and she lived to tell the
tale).
All in all, the girls had a good experience and are surely looking forward to the real expedition in September at Dovedale. Very well done, girls!
Ms Hidalgo, Mrs Tack-Benton
A massive thank you to Ms Hidalgo and Mrs Tack-Benton for their non-stop help from Friday to Sunday, they were the stars of the weekend and sorry for the weather and the resulting sniffles on Monday!
Ms López
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