Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award – Final Expedition

Last week, 21 students from The Sixth Form College travelled to The Snowdonia National Park on their qualifying expedition as part of their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.

The students had to spend five days and four nights being self-sufficient, in food, clothing and shelter which equates to them carrying approximately 15-20kg in their rucksacks each day of the expedition.

The students conducted a range of activities during the expedition including investigating erosion of footpaths and change of use to the landscape and facilities in the National Park area to name a few as they trekked for eight hours each day covering a total distance of 80 kilometres.

The expedition is both challenging and physically demanding as students successfully navigated their way from location to location and planned their route through the National Park. Each student performed exceptionally well, rising to the challenge and working successfully as a team making excellent and informed decisions along their routes. It was a superb group of committed students who had learned a lot from their practice expedition in July and were very efficient throughout the expedition.

The Sixth Form College - Birkenhead DofE Coordinator, Steve Hafford, was pleased by the progress made during the expedition and how well the students did overall. “Each DofE candidate performed exceptionally throughout the expedition, all students interacted with each other well and had the opportunity to lead their team during the daily treks. It was a superb expedition with lots of highs.”  

The activities and experiences that they have gained from taking part in DofE are invaluable to their future and the memories of the expedition will last a lifetime. Enrolling on Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award is an excellent way of enhancing your CV as well as providing life experience and skills that will allow you to shine in any interview and enhance your prospects in employment and University applications. The DofE Gold Award is open to both new and returning students that wish to join.

DofE 2015