General News

DofE Silver Qualifying Expedition

This expedition saw a large cohort of Silver pupils undertake their Silver qualifying expedition around the
Radnor Forest area of Mid-Wales. Six groups comprising thirty-five Lower 6 th Form students participated
over the three days, with five staff, based around two campsites in Knighton and Presteigne.

The groups met at 8:30am at the CCF quad for a thorough kit check before the drive in four minibuses to
the expedition area. The groups were confident and well equipped for the three days and set off in warm
and humid conditions. The navigation skills of all the teams were excellent, although the terrain was
challenging, and several took longer than planned to complete their first days walking. This caused two
teams to be caught en-route when thunder storms struck the area, a well-planned Silver input, entailing
establishing camp in a down-pour: in itself a test of resilience and team-work.

Days two and three were very similar with hot and sunny weather back-dropping a good performance on
the individual and team level. Navigation continued to be of a high standard and the terrain was tackled
with determination. Two individuals failed to complete the expedition due to injury or sickness but the
other thirty-three showed a remarkable resilience and strength of character. All groups completed the
three days’ activities within their planned times and in high spirits at the pick-up point despite the distance travelled and the hot conditions.

This is a very large cohort which presented logistical issues for the running of a qualifying expedition but we were all greatly impressed by the pupils and the real enthusiasm they showed in completing their task.
They too seemed to really enjoy the three days and are now well placed to complete their Silver award and move onto the next level.

Well done everyone!