Dear Parents and Carers
This evening’s newsletter is a Duke of Edinburgh Takeover – to celebrate the success of four of our students who have successfully completed DoE!
Duke of Edinburgh Success!
We are extremely proud to share with you the culmination of some years of work at Wollaston, by Mrs Ayling and her team of volunteers who have grown our Duke of Edinburgh provision and helped many students fulfil bronze and silver awards. We are now in the position to celebrate the amazing achievement of four of our students who have completed the gold award and visited Buckingham Palace to receive their awards. Thank you to Mrs Ayling, William, Emily and Zoe for sharing their experiences with us.
Mrs Ayling writes, “Congratulations to William Baldry, Emily Chapman, Zoe Graves and Georgia Morten for achieving their Gold D of E Award. Gold is a big commitment – most people think of the expedition, and they did endure 4 gruelling days in the mountains of the Lake District! But they also have committed 12-18 months of their time to volunteering causes in the community, learning new skills and completing physical activity.
At Gold there is a further section – the residential, which involves them going and spending 5 days overnight, with people they have never met before. Not many people sign up for Gold and even fewer manage to complete it and commit to getting it all signed off. They were invited to celebrate their achievements at Buckinham Paalce. Prince Edward was there in his role as Duke of Edinburgh and walked through the gardens. There were other celebrities giving inspiriatinoal speeches including Alex Scott, Victoria Derbyshire, Heather Fisher and Jake Jarman (who we were all excited to meet) It was a lovely day and a fitting celebration of all they have achieved.”
William Baldry writes “On Friday, we had the pleasure of being invited to the private gardens of Buckingham Palace for a morning event celebrating the Duke of Edinburgh Gold award. This event was dedicated to celebrating the hard work and commitment to the award that we have been focussed on completing for just over a year alongside our work at sixth form.
Working on the Duke of Edinburgh award was helpful in finding my current interests and developing skills that I can apply to my lifestyle. While sections such as the expedition seem daunting, everyone felt very accomplished upon finishing this section and was proud of the effort made to achieve the gold award. The award is also very accessible, with a wide range of options to choose from within the sections that contribute to the completion of the award, some people may already do activities that fit the criteria for particular sections.
It’s not often you get invited to the Buckingham palace private garden, which is an amazing celebration of the awards achievement, which we are all very proud to have been presented.”
Emily Chapman writes “I was fortunate enough to complete my bronze, silver and gold D of E, each of them teaching me different things. My bronze taught me patience, as unlike me, some people had never camped before. My silver taught me to be brave as I completed my silver with the year above and didn’t know any of my other team members. My gold showed me how resilient I was. I travelled solo over 3 and a half thousand miles to volunteer at a school in The Gambia. This was a life changing experience for me, as seeing how people from a completely different culture, with few material possessions, had such a positive outlook on life and welcomed me with open arms into their community.
On the 9th May I was invited by the Duke of Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace gardens to celebrate the completion of my Gold D of E.
It was a beautiful day filled with tea, cake and plenty of photos (plus some very over excited mums).
I want to thank my mum and Mrs Ayling for forcing me to make one of the best decisions of my life. I’ve got memories that will last a life time
I am very proud of myself for everything I have achieved through completing the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. It’s shown me that I’m a force to be reckoned with, even when I feel I’m at my lowest point. It’s also shown me that even in the rain, I’m still the best at packing a tent away.”
Zoe Graves writes “During my time at Wollaston School, I completed the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award aswell as the Gold award.
Although Bronze was a lot of fun, it was tough! I made lots of memories. The awards tests you both physically and mentally. After completing my award, I was so pleased with my self. I felt pride that I had done it but pleased it was finally over. With this mentality, I did not want to complete the silver award because of the mental and physical challenges.
However, when the Gold award was introduced to us in year 12, I wanted a new challenge. I thought back on all the good memories from bronze. I wanted a new challenge. I wanted to test my physical strengths as well as my mental strengths. I am so pleased that I did take this challenge as I had the best time completing the gold award and I would definitely do it all again!
I was competing many of the sections in the award already. For In the physical section, I took part in sports activities each week, so it was easy to sign off. My volunteering choice was easy as I helped at our local rookies lifeguarding club where I once attended before completing my lifeguarding qualification. For my skill, I wanted to try something new so I challenged myself to complete a swim teaching course. I am passionate about encouraging all children to learn to swim so I applied for some funding with Northamptonshire Sport and I booked onto a swim teaching course. I was assignment a mentor to discuss the complete my skills and tasks. Interacting with different people in an unfamiliar pool was great. I thrived during this time. I really enjoyed myself and found it easy.
Another section of the award is to go on a residential. I chose something I am passionate about and something I would enjoy. I went off on my own for a week with people I did not know to Portland, Weymouth for a beach-based water sports activity week. I made some great friends who I still keep in contact with and did the best activities such as rock climbing and abseiling on the cliffs. I had been nervous, but it was such an amazing week! The Duke of Edingbough award teaches you so many lessons and helps develop you as an aspiring person.
The expedition was tough and was long but the people we went with were the best! We had such an amazing group, who encouraged one another and made sure everyone was okay the whole way. We sang, we joked and laughed the whole week. Reflecting back, I think my toughest part was having to camp in a field with animals roaming around us (still not a fan of animals)!
Overall the memories I made will last a lifetime, it was a special week.
D of E taught me to challenge myself so during year 13, I completed a 1/2 marathon, the iconic London marathon and a triathlon before flying off to complete a summer at Camp America as a gym coach.
To finish this whole experience at the Buckingham Palace gardens was so surreal. It was an amazing day. The sense of pride you feel knowing you completed so much and worked so hard was brilliant. To then get your award and go to the gardens at Buckingham palace …that feeling is special. Knowing that not many people complete the award and that you are one of few to go to the gardens is a feeling of pride.
We had a great day eating cake, drinking tea, seeing the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, and so many other celebs such as Alex Scott, Larry Lamb and the amazing Jake Jarman ,who is such an icon, was very inspiring.
A huge thank you to Mrs Ayling for supporting me on my D of E journey. We were so pleased you could join us at the Palace.
Words of advice to anyone who is thinking of doing it ……. GO FOR IT! The whole experience is what you make it, so make it a positive one!”
Key Dates
Friday 23rd May – end of half term
Monday 2nd June – start of half term 2
Best wishes for the week ahead.
Simon Anderson