IHS Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh Experience Day

On Friday, 26th September, all pupils in Year 9 enjoyed a day of skills development on the school site, giving them a taste of the DofE experience. Working with staff from GoExplore and some of our IHS staff, pupils completed workshops on Navigation, Team-Building, Emergency Kit, Cooking on Stoves, and First Aid. It was a very active day, but the pupils were really engaged throughout, facing each challenge with positivity and enthusiasm.

Nearly half the year group then chose to stay on after school for the full experience. After erecting group tents on Church Field, groups put their learning into practice and cooked for themselves on Trangia stoves, with a wide variety of meals being prepared. This was followed by a night-time sensory walk, including sparkling quartz and sugar cubes, confusingly coloured crayons, and even disappearing heads (all to do with rods and cones, we learned). After such an active day, the groups soon fell asleep, leaving the supervising staff with an easy night (and the opportunity to get a good rest ourselves). Early morning was beautiful, with clear blue skies and morning mist covering the tents. It wasn’t long before groups of pupils were gathered around stoves, preparing a variety of breakfast dishes including, surprisingly, bacon and eggs, biryani and macaroni cheese (unlikely that these will come out on our assessed expedition, but certainly fun for this taster experience).

Developing on the understanding of maps and compasses gained during the in-school workshops, groups then worked with an instructor to develop their practical navigation skills in the area around the school. After packing away the tents (with outer layers being taken home for drying), we returned the pupils to their parents, confident in their ability to take on the challenge of the assessed expedition, which many of them are intending to do.

We were incredibly proud of all the pupils, who were described by GoExplore staff as ‘a fab bunch’ – and we couldn’t agree more.