DofE Awards Presentation 2020

There were plenty of smiling faces on Sunday 15^th March 2020 as our largest ever DofE Award Ceremony took place in Peckover Hall. We were delighted that so many of our students completed their Bronze and Silver Awards and were gathered to celebrate their achievements.

Although the students trained and practised for the expedition under the expert guidance of their dedicated DofE co-curricular activity leaders, Ann Munday (Maths teacher), Leana Mikula (English teacher) and Richard Duckett (History and Politics teacher), the remainder of the work for their award was completed independently. Each successful award candidate completed a skill, activity and service section in addition to their group expedition.

There were some treasured artefacts on display at the event including pictures of  Daniel L’s weighted Roman spear, a plumbata, on show, the product of his metal-working skill, and Bella’s impressive knitted throw, the efforts of a new knitter motivated by her DofE. The project undertaken by the Silver group on their expedition was also available for the assembly to browse; a hand-made children’s book on the adventures of Teddy, complete with photographs of his journey with Group B!

The expeditions have taken place over the last couple of years in the beautiful surroundings of the local countryside. The Bronze groups practised their expedition around Woodcote in Oxfordshire and continued for their final walk in the South Chilterns around Watlington. The Silver groups ventured to the North Wessex Downs staying north of Andover around Lincolnholt and Oxenwood for their practice and then moving into West Berkshire’s Hungerford and Lambourne environs for their qualifying expedition.

We were also pleased to hear that two of our alumni from the Summer 2019 Leavers’ cohort have completed their Gold Awards successfully. The four boys canoed initially on the Severn as a practice and then qualified for their final expedition by canoeing down the River Wye.

The awards were presented by Alison Steadman, who was the Reading Borough Council DofE Award Officer at the time when Ann Munday re-invigorated the School’s DofE scheme in 1995. Now retired, Alison was pleased to return to Leighton Park for this special occasion and even had a small celebration of her own as she was presented with a 25 Years of Service certificate.