Thirty students from Year 11 spent 3 days at the beginning of the Easter break training for their Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition. They were lucky to catch the warm temperatures and sunshine which disappeared for the Bank Holiday! For some who were not used to carrying heavy loads or rough moorland terrain, the lovely conditions helped in a small way to alleviate the usual sore feet and shoulders.

After boiling up their yummy dehydrated meals and relaxing in t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops it was a surprise for several to find it necessary to dress up in woolly hats, fleece jackets and gloves. A night walk to the top of Brat Tor brought plunging temperatures under a clear starlit sky, what a treat!

The group have now refined their navigation, cooking and tent pitching abilities along with other useful skills, such as how to survive in a very small space with someone with extremely smelly feet that also snores (that's only the staff)!
They have to be a little more self-reliant on the 'real thing' at the end of June in the Wye Valley. That's after all the revision and taking their GCSE exams, for which we wish them lots of good luck!