Year 10 students who are enrolled on the DofE scheme have been able to take part in expeditions again. This comes after temporary changes were made by the DofE, which were put in place to ensure students can still achieve the award.

The main change is that there is no longer an overnight camping element, therefore, students are taking part in day expeditions. Setting off from school, students navigate a loop through Wombourne, Trysull and Seisdon. Once back at school students cook themselves a meal on a Trangia and pitch a tent on the school field. On their second day students navigate to Kingswood via the Bradshaws estate then return to school following an alternative route.

Mr Moody, DofE Manager, said: “Both days have been just as challenging as a typical DofE expedition which would normally take place at Llandrinio. All students really stepped up and have worked well together. The groups that have completed their expeditions so far have been extremely successful.

Many students have had to adapt their volunteering section due to these temporary changes, which now allow students to volunteer for their families. One of the most popular activities has been mentoring siblings with home learning during lockdown, as well as mentoring other family members via Zoom or Facetime.

Year 11 students enrolled in the DofE programme will also be completing their silver award expeditions, with the addition of a gold group completing their practice expedition later in the summer term.

Mr Moody added, “We are very much looking forward to the rest of the summer term, there are five more groups in Year 10 completing their bronze award expeditions.

“We also have a new cohort of Year 9 bronze students who will be working towards completing their volunteering, physical and skill section this term. They will start their expedition section in the new academic year, by which point we hope things will be getting back to normal”