At Trinity, we’re proud to offer The Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) to pupils from Third Form onwards. The award gives students the opportunity to develop new skills, challenge themselves in unfamiliar environments, and build confidence through volunteering, physical activity, expeditions and residential experiences.
Sixth Form student Isabelle shares her experience of completing her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award last summer.
“When I joined Trinity, I had already completed both my Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards, so I decided to continue on to Gold. I had always enjoyed the expedition element, as it is challenging but also a lot of fun, and I thought it would be a great way to meet new people at the school. Everyone was very welcoming at the meetings, and it quickly became a nice opportunity to talk to people I had not spoken to before and get to know others outside my usual friendship group.
I have now completed my Gold award and am very excited to be going to the palace in the summer. For my skills section I took driving lessons, for my physical section I played hockey, and for volunteering I helped to coach the under-12s at my hockey club. For my residential, I attended an activity camp in Dorset where we took part in activities such as coasteering, rock climbing, and also gained a first aid qualification. The residential was the part I was most nervous about, as I did not know anyone beforehand and had to step out of my comfort zone to make friends with people from all over the country, which I found quite challenging at first.
The Gold expedition was by far the best DofE expedition I have taken part in. Everyone in my group was very supportive and helped each other, especially with navigation. One of my highlights was on the first evening when we cooked steak and burgers at the campsite, which was a great bonding moment and definitely the best food we had all week. The expedition was physically demanding, particularly on the final day when we climbed Pen y Fan, which is around 900 metres high. By that point we were all exhausted, and there were moments when I wanted to give up, but the encouragement from my group kept me going. Reaching the top and seeing the views made all the effort worthwhile, and we celebrated together with lunch at the summit.
Overall, my experience of DofE has been amazing, and I would highly recommend it to anyone joining Trinity. I have made close friends through the programme, and it is something I will always remember, from the songs we sang while walking to playing Mafia at the campsite in the evenings. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me stronger both mentally and physically, and I am really looking forward to celebrating the completion of my Gold award at the palace this summer.”
We wish the next group of Trinity students every success as they work towards completing their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award this year.
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