DofE Silver Qualifying Expedition
This expedition saw a large cohort of Silver pupils undertake their Silver qualifying expedition around theRadnor Forest area of Mid-Wales. Six groups comprising thirty-five Lower 6 th Form students participatedover the three days, with five staff, based around two campsites in Knighton and Presteigne.
The groups met at 8:30am at the CCF quad for a thorough kit check before the drive in four minibuses tothe expedition area. The groups were confident and well equipped for the three days and set off in warmand humid conditions. The navigation skills of all the teams were excellent, although the terrain waschallenging, and several took longer than planned to complete their first days walking. This caused twoteams to be caught en-route when thunder storms struck the area, a well-planned Silver input, entailingestablishing camp in a down-pour: in itself a test of resilience and team-work.
Days two and three were very similar with hot and sunny weather back-dropping a good performance onthe individual and team level. Navigation continued to be of a high standard and the terrain was tackledwith determination. Two individuals failed to complete the expedition due to injury or sickness but theother thirty-three showed a remarkable resilience and strength of character. All groups completed thethree days’ activities within their planned times and in high spirits at the pick-up point despite the distance travelled and the hot conditions.
This is a very large cohort which presented logistical issues for the running of a qualifying expedition but we were all greatly impressed by the pupils and the real enthusiasm they showed in completing their task.They too seemed to really enjoy the three days and are now well placed to complete their Silver award and move onto the next level.
Well done everyone!
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