Gold Award Winners
On Monday 16 May, a record-breaking 3,000 Gold Award holders were welcomed to Buckingham Palace Gardens for the first Duke of Edinburgh’s Award celebrations since the pandemic. Among the award winners were Birchwood students that had completed their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award whilst studying at Birchwood Sixth form during the pandemic and one former member of staff.
We are very proud to congratulate; all the students as they donned their gold award brooches and celebrated in style.
All students would like to say a huge “Thank you” to Mr Morton, DofE co-ordinator at Birchwood, who gave up his time to make it all possible.
Hosted by HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the palace gardens were transformed into a festival style event with games and activities, including croquet on the lawn, and inspiring speeches from guests such as Strictly star Johannes Radebe, TV presenter Ben Fogle, actress Nina Wadia, and entrepreneur and former Apprentice winner Tim Campbell – who are all award holders.
Bronze DofE
At the end of Year 9, we decided to do our Bronze DofE award! We have to say it was one of the best camping experiences we’ve ever had!
We were taught so much by Mr Morton and the “very” helpful Sixth Formers every Friday where after school we planned our routes and learnt the basics of what we would need to know for our expedition in October. We did this for many weeks alongside the physical, skill and volunteering aspects of the award too. All in all, it took us just over six months with a lot of disagreements and bickering - however it all ended up going, just about, to plan!
In July we ventured off on our practice exped, walking for miles upon miles - or what felt like it - around Essex and Hertfordshire and eventually ending up in a field somewhere near Epping. Then all of a sudden it was October and we were a day away from our real expedition! In this we walked around and near Newport and camped over night in Audley End. We are pretty sure most people would say that we had a fab time apart from being far too cold!
Over all, DofE has been a great experience and has definitely taught us a lot about camping, putting up a tent and getting along with other people when you are incredibly grumpy from getting no sleep!
Scarlett and Tabitha Gray (Year 10).
Bronze Awards
Following their successful DofE Bronze Expeditions, seven groups of students gave presentations to staff, students and parents about their expeditions. This was somewhat nerve wracking for many of them as presenting to an audience of 50 is not something many 14 year olds have to do!
Presentations ranged from Video Blogs through to PowerPoint presentations and booklets tracking their expeditions and their completion of their aims. The effort they had gone to, both during the expedition and in preparing for the event was really obvious and made for some very entertaining presentations. For some participants this was the final aspect of their DofE awards and so they will be getting their certificates early in the New Year!
Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Getting involved in the Gold Duke of Edinburgh's award was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences that I have got engaged with as a Sixth Former; it has opened up so many doors for opportunities that I never thought were there and has given me the confidence to take part in activities which I previously would have opted out of.