The Duke of Edinburgh's Award - Trip To Chimgan Mountains

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award - Trip To Chimgan Mountains On 15 October, we waved goodbye to group of 27 BST students from Years 10-13 and 5 staff who set off for an Adventures Hike to complete their Bronze Award as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Programme. The group under the leadership of Stephanie Corbishley will spend two days hiking in the Chimgan mountains. Complete with all their backpacks and appropriate equipment, the team left in bright sunshine and mild weather, great for the start of their journey.

On 15 October, we waved goodbye to group of 27 BST students from Years 10-13 and 5 staff who set off for an Adventures Hike to complete their Bronze Award as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Programme. The group under the leadership of Stephanie Corbishley will spend two days hiking in the Chimgan mountains.  Complete with all their backpacks and appropriate equipment, the team left in bright sunshine and mild weather, great for the start of their journey.

Before leaving for the hike all the students and staff did Rapid PCR tests to ensure that everybody was healthy. Two members of staff also did the hike before taking the students to complete a risk assessment. 

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a youth awards programme that was founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young adults for completing a series of self-improvement exercises modelled on Kurt Hahn's solutions to his "Six Declines of Modern Youth". 

With the assistance from adult Leaders, participants select and set objectives in each of the following areas: 

• Volunteering 
  • Undertaking service to individuals or the community. 

• Physical 
  • Improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities. 

• Skills 
  • Developing practical and social skills and personal interests. 

• Expedition 
  • Planning, training for, and completion of an adventurous journey in the UK or abroad. 

At Gold level, participants must do an additional fifth Residential section, which involves staying and working away from home for five days, doing a shared activity. 

To achieve an award, the participants must work on each section for a minimum period of time, and must be monitored and assessed by someone with knowledge of the chosen activities. Each progressive level demands more time and commitment from participants:  

• Bronze 3–6 months 
• Silver: 6–9 months 
• Gold: 12–18 months 

Participants are required to show regular activity and commitment to the award for the duration of their DofE programme, which is usually at least one hour per week.