Taylorian 2020

55 T he past couple of years have seen a number of adaptations to our delivery of the Duke of Edinburgh Award as a consequence of continued national changes to the Award and infrastructure. eDofE, the online portal and app, is the principal way for participants to manage and record their progress through the Award by uploading evidence of their activities. The updated digital dashboard makes it easier for boys and their group leaders to track their achievements and support them in completing their Award. Our revamped D of E training programme still sees a cohort of 80 Divisions boys signing up for the Bronze Award, between 20 to 30 boys in the Fifths starting their Silver level, and 20 Lower Sixth boys beginning their Gold Award. This year, Bronze boys have been training on alternate Friday after-school sessions with their group Leaders, who deliver the theory aspects of the Expedition Training Framework and support them through their physical, skills, and volunteering sections. October Field Day now sees the Bronze Award boys start to learn some of the practical expedition skills. Boys doing their Silver and Gold Awards undergo joint group classroom-based training from Adventure Training and Expeditions (ATE), our external expedition provider. March Field Day was devoted to the Practice and Qualifying expedition route planning for the boys doing Silver and Gold. Meanwhile, the 12 Bronze groups set off with their group Leaders on a six-hour walking journey, following routes they had devised themselves for their first navigation experience. Unfortunately, the lockdown has put paid to our expedition season. As things stand, we will endeavour to reschedule all the expeditions as soon as social distancing measures allow. D of E has recognised that, across the country, most participants’ usual physical, skills, and volunteering activities havebeencancelled.So,theyhaveintroduced a raft of new measures allowing young people to complete these three sections, for example by switching their physical activity to walking, running, or cycling, and using Strava to record their progress. We continue to support OMTs in completing their Awards. Last year, seven OMTs were presented with their Gold Award at St James’s Palace, and seventeen are still working towards elements of their awards. A significant number of OMTs finish their undergraduate degrees and then, when turning to career and job hunting, realise the value the Gold Award holds. Therefore, we are enormously pleased to enable those boys to finish off the Awards they started at MTS. I know it serves as a powerful statement on their CV and catches the eye of many prospective employers. Thank you to the twenty dedicated D of E staff and Leaders who support the boys throughout the year; to Mrs Hale, our Award verifier, who checks each Award meets the national D of E standards; and to Miss Caulfield, who has been a driving force in chasing boys to upload their evidence and complete their Awards, as well as supporting me on the training programme. My final word to all boys is that we will endeavour to support you as best we can in completing your Award. I hope that the expeditions can resume later this year and we can get some groups back out in the countryside and sleeping under canvas. In the meantime, I add some photos of last year’s successful Gold groups in Snowdonia, just to whet your appetite, if not satisfy it… yet! Mr J E Firestone S&A Societies & Activities Duke of Edinburgh’sAward