Posted on: September 25th 2017

GOLD D of E Assessment

Gold Expedition Assessment

Several pupils in Year 13 undertook their Gold D of E expedition assessment in North Wales during the month of September.

GOLD DOfE

For the Gold Expedition, the students needed to complete a trip involving four days of several hours walking each day in a remote location.

Snowdonia was the chosen destination for the trip and using this information the students then had to plan the route, given no start or finish point and book a campsite or find a suitable location for a wildcamp using guidance from the assessor and supervisor to the suitability of the terrain.  Plan a suitable food menu for the duration of the trip, equipment required and who was responsible for carrying it.

For the trip, the students worked very hard with a particularly difficult terrain, which in the run up to the expedition had experienced a torrential downpour leaving the ground very wet, and some of the paths running with water combined with rocky descent and ascents of several hundred metre at times.

The weather during the day offered a mix of rain and sunny spells. However, many of the nights saw heavy downpours and cool temperatures.

This meant that the students were constantly packing and setting up wet tents and needing to ensure that kit, such as sleeping bags and clothing were protected each day from the weather.  All this added to the challenge. Combine all these elements with cooking and their evenings in the rain on occasions, this lead to wet feet for some of the group!

GOLD DofE4

Whilst on the Expedition, it was both Amber and Jasmine’s 18th birthdays and time out was taken to celebrate with a cake on top of the Glyders at the junction to the Miner’s track, this was particularly special as no mobile phones are allowed, so the girls had limited access to contact home. In both cases the girls were planning to make up for this when they got home.

Overall, a very successful trip that the students will remember for a very long time. With most of the group having already completed the residential section of the award, many will complete the final sections by March/April 2018 to obtain their Gold Award and a trip to The Palace.

Well Done to Jasmine, Jasper, Amber, Lydia, Lauren, Matthew and Connor who are the first group of students to undertake the gold award at Chichester High School.

GOLD DofE3

 

Categories

Archives

Also in the News