On Friday 22nd June, High Peak Schools Duke of Edinburgh lead, Mr Hayes, was invited to attend a Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award celebration ceremony at Buckingham Palace where there was DofE Managers, and AAP Managers invited to attend to show thanks for their support of the award. Jacob has been involved with DofE for the past 17 years and averages working on around 15 separate expeditions each year and managing the DofE program at High Peak.
There was certain likeness to the experiences that Jacob gives pupils on expedition where they will often go to new places out of their comfort zone where he is certainly isn’t usually found in a suit in a city!
The day opened with the national anthem played by the band of the Royal Marines followed by speeches from the Duke of Edinburgh, Dame Kelly Holmes, and one of the DofE Youth Ambassadors which was amazing to hear each persons experience of the Award and draw on similarities to his own and the schools expeditions despite the vast differences in circumstances.
HRH Prince Edward then walked around speaking with several delegates and discussed their journeys and time with the Award. Unfortunately with the event being so large Jacob didn’t get to speak with Prince Edward however he did manage to see him and listen to him speak to a Blind gold achiever which was massively inspiring.
Jacob managed to speak to other providers and DofE leaders about some adaptations to make the award more accessible to all pupils as well as having healthy discussions around the ’spirit’ of the Award.
The underlying theme of the day was the DofE’s 70th birthday and learning about the DofE Archives which are fascinating to see visually how the last 70 years has changed however has kept the core values.
The opportunity to head to the palace was greatly appreciated and Jacob hopes the next time he goes will be with one of our pupils on achieving their Gold Award.
