On Thursday 4th May, 2 groups of Silver students and on the 8th June 2023 a further 38 Silver DofE students went to Teesdale to do the practice expeditions ready for the assessed expedition in the Yorkshire Dales where all 52 students passed the expedition section of the DofE award .
The practice and assessed expeditions went really well and the weather was good too on both weekends but muggy and hot at times with a few showers thrown in .
Silver Assessed expedition
The students walked from Grassing to Malam on day 1, Malam to Kettlewell on day 2 and from kettlewell to back to Grassington on day 3. The fact the coaches were late didn’t dampen the spirits of the students and when the coach arrived at the destinations the students were off the coaches and getting ready to set off for the day. The last group did not get into camp until around 8.30pm on the assessed expedition but it was nice to see all the students helping out and by 9.30pm all the tents were up and everyone cooked and had eaten their food.
On day 2 the students were all off the campsite by 9am and were heading off towards Kettlewell where they will be staying for their 2nd night under canvas. The school staff were able to meet up with most of the groups during the day as staff too enjoy walking during the day and meeting up with groups while walking and taking photos of them. Everyone was back at the campsite in good time and the showers were overworked as the students and staff took advantage of being able to get a decent shower!
Trip oraniser Mr Allman said “We treated the students to hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows sandwiched between 2 chocolate biscuits which went down a treat. It was nice for the students to just relax, have a singsong, play a game or two and just chat to staff and other students”
On the final day the students were up and ready to go again by 9am. This was walking back to Grassington visitor centre where the coach was going to pick us up. Again the school staff went on a walk and met up with some of the groups before heading back into grassington for an ice cream. When the students got back to the visitor centre and were signed off they had the opportunity to go into Grassington for an ice cream or something to eat before boarding the coach and heading back to Ponteland.
The students did really well and all 52 students completed the expedition section of their Silver DofE award.
Mr Allman also commented “The behaviour and manners of our students were excellent and a credit to Ponteland High School and their parents’ carers. There were lots of positive comments made by members of the public both on the campsites and from other walkers who commented when they saw us on how polite our groups were”.
