DofE Practice Under the Northern Lights

Not only was the weather perfect for the Yr9s DofE Bronze Practice this last weekend, with the sun shining for them, but our students got to see something that people usually have to travel hundreds of miles to experience...The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis as they are also known.

What an amazing DofE Expedition and incredibly memorable way to spend their weekend! As always, thank you to Mr Hayden for organising. https://www.instagram.com/aureusDofE/

Our Bronze DofE practice expedition was amazing. Through doing DofE, we have all been able to make so many new friends and I’ve strengthened my friendships with my existing friends. 

We chose our partners to share a tent with and cook and our groups were then put together by Mr Hayden. In our groups we learnt new skills each week and created our expedition maps as a team. The expedition itself was a completely new experience and different to what we all expected. I can’t think of a single person who didn't enjoy this experience, we were all so tired after the long walk but the feeling of success at the end was unimaginable. 

There were many fun moments, such as one of our teammates walking in the creek during our lunch break and listening to Andrii play his guitar in the evening. There were also many worrying moments, such as getting completely lost which was worrying at the time but now we look back and laugh about the mistakes we made. The campsite was also amazing with lots of space. After we arrived we had time to relax and talk to the other groups about their experiences. We were taught how to set up tents and then began to cook with our partners on the cooking stoves that  we had carried in our bags. Cooking our own food was a great experience and was nice to do it all in the sun. In the night some pupils managed to spot the Northern lights which was unbelievable and such a great thing to witness.

I believe every student who participated was so grateful for the teachers' efforts and giving us this amazing opportunity which no one will ever forget. I couldn't encourage doing DofE more than ever after doing my first expedition as you will make so many new memories and friendships with people you may not have interacted with before. You also have to complete 3 different sections to finish your DofE award, which are: skills, volunteering and physical. For the skills section you have to learn something new, for example, first aid or cooking. For the physical section you have to raise your heart rate for an hour a week, for example, team sports, running or cycling. The last section is volunteering which is a great way of giving back to the community and helping others, for example, litter picking or raising money for charity.

I would 100% encourage everyone in year 8 to do DofE next year!...Charlie H Yr9