The annual Duke of Edinburgh Awards Ceremony took place towards the end of April in the Girls’ Division Great Hall. Attended by staff, students and family members, this occasion was a very special opportunity to celebrate the young people who have achieved their Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
The guest speaker for the evening was Old Boy Will Sheaff (Class of 2004), whose life-long passion for outdoor learning first began at Bolton School and has continued throughout his interesting and diverse career. Now a self-employed consultant for challenge events and part-time Duke of Edinburgh Award manager for a pair of North London schools, he was able to share his insights and adventures with the audience.
Following a short welcome from the Head of Foundation, Mr Philip Britton, a small number of students shared their experiences completing the four or five sections of their Awards: volunteering, physical, skills, expedition, and residential for Gold Award only. Hugo and Daniel (Year 12) and Amina and Tilly (Year 11) spoke about the Silver Award, while Nathan, Umme-Hani and Prisha (Year 13) recapped their Gold Award experiences. From coaching sports teams to helping out at a farm, developing sporting and musical talents to braving the elements to complete their expeditions, these students shared their inspiring experiences with the audience. The Gold Award participants also encouraged the Silver Award winners to continue their Duke of Edinburgh journey with Gold Award.
The Awards were then presented by the guest speaker for the evening, Will Sheaff and Ms Heinz (Silver Boys), Ms Teichman (Silver Girls), Mr Bradley (Gold Boys) and Miss Gunshon (Gold Girls).
Will Sheaff then took the podium to address the audience. His life-long passion for outdoor learning perhaps began with his first trip to Patterdale as a Park Road pupil. It was during his time at Bolton School that he was introduced to the adventure sports he still loves today, and inspired him to follow his passion into a career in outdoor adventure learning.
He took the audience on a whistlestop tour of his own travels, including a number of trips he took when not much older than the pupils receiving awards: from Morocco to the glaciers at Chamonix to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He advised students that “passion is an attractive quality” and that they would be surrounded by interesting people if they themselves are interesting. Speaking about women in the outdoor education industry, he noted that it was fantastic to see girls so well represented on the evening and encouraged all of the pupils to keep up the skills they had learned through the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
His speech brought the evening to an inspiring close with the message that: “Volunteering should be a part of your life. It opens up so many opportunities. The world relies on volunteers to do so many interesting and wonderful things, please keep it up. Kindness and empathy are qualities that make you stand out, they are qualities that people remember.”
Finally, Mr Britton thanked the parents and staff for their support and encouragement throughout the Duke of Edinburgh programme.
D of E Awards Celebration in pictures:
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