Monmouth Comprehensive should be really proud of its students over the last year, especially with everything that has gone on through the pandemic and the challenges that arose and faced them when it came to both taking part and completing their DofE award.

The recruitment and delivery has had to change, however we have still had lots of young people taking part in all three levels. Year 10 have started their Bronze Award, Year 11 their Silver and Years 12 and 13 their Gold. Lots of the expedition and general training has had to take place online which was challenging to start with, however we soon all adapted and lots of good content was covered.

We managed to adapt the Award to fit around the restrictions that were put in place by the various levels of Covid alerts.

The young people have actively gone out into their communities and at home, where allowed, to complete the volunteering section, by helping younger siblings with home education, elderly neighbours with shopping and essential chores that they themselves could not complete due to isolating and they have helped parents to transform gardens and complete home projects.

When it came to the physical section, although sports clubs and leisure centres have been closed, they have been out walking and cycling to keep up the activity progress and, hopefully, help towards overall wellbeing.

The Skill section, for me, has been the most impressive.  Obviously, due to restrictions, many options were no longer available so the young people had to change the activity they would have done and many have turned to baking and cooking. It has been really impressive to see what has been produced and I’m sure our students have helped to keep their families well-fed with plenty of treats.

We managed to run all the expeditions with the young people from Monmouth taking part in expeditions in the Abergavenny area, the wider Brecon Beacons, the Lake District for Golds and, finally, a Gold Canoe expedition to Scotland and the Caledonian Canal which, to add a little pressure, was the first time we have taken a group to Scotland for a Canoe expedition.

We are about to start recruitment again in the school for those wishing to take part in the Award. We will be targeting Year 10 for Bronze, Year 11 for Silver and Year 12 / 13 for Gold and look forward to having some great new adventures over the coming year.

 

Please select the attachment below to download the Registration Pack 2021-2022.

Andy Woolley
DofE Development Officer
MonLife