Huge congratulations to the Year 13s in our Sixth Form who successfully passed their Duke of Edinburgh's Award Gold Expedition during the summer holidays. They had an incredibly tough challenge which involved paddling against the flow of water up the River Thames. Nine hardy students travelled 64 miles from Runnymede to Abingdon in a bell-boat. They spent three nights camping, one of which was on a wild campsite - an island in the middle of the Thames, which the girls had to share with the swans!

The expedition was physically and mentally demanding. The girls had to paddle 21 miles on one of the days. This day was particularly challenging, and one where they displayed an incredible about of resilience. It was by no means a foregone conclusion that the girls would pass their expedition as on this day as, the girls had only paddled 9 miles in 8 hours and were told by the assessor that they might be pulled off the water. However, our girls dug deep and with incredible determination, they managed to paddle 12 miles in 5 hours and got to the campsite on time. This was absolutely fantastic and displayed a high level of teamwork and tenacity. We are all very proud of the girls.