Report on Duke of Edinburgh's Day 2011

(Photos above)

 

A very cloudy Wednesday in the middle of March 2011 saw the third Nower Hill Duke of Edinburgh day at Woodlands' open space, enjoyed by 117 students; and it was made even more special this year by a visit from a Ugandan man called Fred.  He is in Britain with two colleagues to promote the Duke of Edinburgh and other leadership schemes for Ugandan boy soldiers and girls affected by war to help them reintegrate with their societies.  

 

He was very interested to watch the many different sessions happening on the day and also spoke to groups of Nower Hill students about his experiences. He did, of course, expect to see students learning outdoor cooking skills but was still amazed to see boys taking part because only the women prepare meals back home. Listening to Fred talk about leadership, morale and achievement it was easy to understand the similarities between the DofE award here in Britain and in his home country, Uganda, but the differences between the students' backgrounds are huge.

 

While several of our students say they are a bit worried about the wildlife they may encounter on their expedition, many of Fred's peers have no problem catching an animal if they need it to survive and while we may enjoy using our compass to navigate through a British woodland, the Ugandan kids, because of previous experiences, are afraid to go into the jungle, but they can navigate their way around just by looking up at the stars!

The best group on the day was Ben, Jake, Ali and Patrick, who managed to get a massive 49 out of 50 points over the 5 sessions with all other groups scoring over 40; well done to all participants for helping to make it the best DofE day ever.  Special thanks to all of the leaders for their fantastic efforts in preparation and delivery of the sessions and an extra special thank you to all of the 6th form volunteers with strained muscles, without whom we could never have got all the equipment to Woodlands and back.

All students involved with DofE at Nower Hill should now be looking forward to using their skills safely and successfully on the forthcoming bronze and silver expeditions in April, May and July 2011.

 

Done bronze already? Want to do silver? Gold?

 

Mr Rankin and Miss Verber are in charge of the Duke of Ed’s Award now.

Please see them for details.

 

 

 

Interested? Not sure what it’s all about?

Visit - www.theaward.org