Towards the end of last year, 11 students from St Paul’s Catholic College in Sunbury were presented with their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Awards, with many more students to come through the scheme shortly.
In a small presentation ceremony, the South East Regional Director for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Christian Scott, visited St Paul’s to formally present the students with their well-deserved awards. All students received a certificate, badge and an official photo of the occasion. At the same time, St Paul’s was also officially presented with a plaque in recognition of becoming a directly licensed centre.
The bronze award is held over a year and incorporates a skills, volunteering and physical section. There is also an expedition where initial training begins at school which is followed by a day’s walk to Leith Hill and then a practice expedition, which turned out to be quite an eventful experience. A final weekend expedition was held in May last year where the sleet and snowy weather came as a complete surprise! One of the independent assessors for the weekend commented that this group of students was one of the best they had seen.
