Students celebrate gold standard
23 youngsters attend event at St James’ Palace in London
A RECORD 23 students from Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland Sixth Form centre attended a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award presentation.
The group travelled to St James’ Palace in March to receive award certificates from Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex who was delighted to see such a large contingent from a single school.
The group received their certificates from HRH Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex who was delighted that there was such a large contingent from the same school.
Those attending were all from the same year group and trudged 50 miles across Snowdonia for their expedition in four expedition groups.
Dick Beaumont DofE Manager at Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland Sixth Form said: “It was particularly pleasing to see them all complete their DofE journey, starting with Bronze, progressing to Silver and ultimately Gold.
“21 of the participants were part of a 40 strong Bronze group, back in 2014 where they set another record of being the first Bronze group to achieve 100 per cent success rate.
“By the end of April, the remaining participants from this group should have completed their Award, meaning it will be another 100 per cent achievement.
“The participants engaged in many activities to satisfy the criteria of the award in completing 5 sections: Volunteering, Physical, Skill, Expedition and a five day Residential.
“The group have been focussed throughout their four years together at HAJC and it was fitting that they could all attend St James Palace together, which is not an easy feat to coordinate.
“Thanks must go to DofE Central England for helping to facilitate this.”
In addition to their Presentations, Dick Beaumont, the DofE Manager at the Academy, was presented with a 30 year Long Service Award.
Richard Cahill, Principal at HAJC and Trevor Smith, DofE leader responsible for delivering the Gold Award were also in attendance.