b'THE ELLESMERIANThe Duke of Edinburghs Award62Thankfully the Duke of Edinburgh AwardBronze Awardscheme in College has been in full swing this year. Students have once again embracedThe summer expedition for the Year 9 Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award was the final assessed expedition, which entailed two days of complete the opportunity to be in nature, enjoyingself-sufficiency. Pupils needed to walk and navigate unaccompanied and testing their skills and fitness with friends. Wethen provide their own meals and shelter over two days and one night. have seen a huge uptake in the awards thisThe two legs of the walk were from Llandegla to Llangollen along the academic year, with 60 students enrolling forOffas Dyke path, and a circular route around the Llantysilio mountains. Both days were approximately a 15km walk with some challenging Bronze, a small highly skilled Silver group, andterrain and tricky navigation. A couple of groups found the Llandegla two Gold Award groups from our Sixth Form,Forest leg of the walk particularly challenging to navigate.with one canoeing and the other walking. We are proud to say that Ellesmere College boasts the highest take up of the Duke of Edinburgh of any school across Shropshire. With all Award levels out on training, practice, and qualifier expeditions across October, April, and June (either walking or canoeing), the benefits of these expeditions are immense. Some benefits include learning key map reading skills, campsite etiquette, developing resilience, and team building, whilst their volunteering sections highlight the importance of giving something back to others through volunteering. Students at the College have completed a record number of 2262 hours of volunteering, something they can be very proud of. We have also taken the opportunity to enhance our DofE provision by ensuring all of our participants across all award levels complete a formal external first aid coursea challenging 4-hour session with lots of practical elements and written exam. Suffice to say all students so far have worked hard and passed their courses and feel more confident toPupils were very tired after the physical demands of day 1, so after deal with emergency situations when out on expedition.making themselves a hot supper it was an early night all round. The campcraft skills and behaviour demonstrated by pupils were outstanding and, after a speedy breakfast, the various walking groups packed up'