The Duke of Edinburgh's International award is a program that provides, promotes and preserves a framework of Award participation that equips, engages and empowers all young people in Australia to explore their full potential. It encourages students to design their own individual program, which is tailored to meet their personal circumstances, choices and local provision. The award inspires individuals to exceed their expectations, set challenges and goals before starting an activity and aim for these goals by showing improvement.
The award program melds with the IB Diploma and forms a solid foundation for completing the CAS requirements, especially the Duke of Edinburgh section requirements for service, skill and activity. In addition to these sections, participants are also required to complete a practice and qualifying Adventurous Journey- a journey with a purpose.
The aim of the Adventurous Journey component is to provide participants with the opportunity to learn more about the wider environment, as well as to develop their self-confidence, team work and health. Participants are taken out of their comfort zone- in an unfamiliar environment but kept within a safe and secure setting, achieved through suitable training and supervision.
This week our Duke of Edinburgh Silver students embarked on their Practice Adventurous Journey, facilitated by experts from Numinbah Valley Environmental Education Centre. The silver (3 days and 2 nights) practice journey allows our students to prepare, plan and experience skills in an unfamiliar environment to ensure their qualifying journey is safe and successful.
Below is the reflection from Duke of Edinburgh participant Jorja Sheehy:
The Duke of Edinburgh silver practice journey I completed was both challenging and rewarding. Our group showed so much perseverance hiking almost 27kms over 3 days, mostly over steep hills. We had so much determination we even managed to get to our campsite an hour and a half early on the second day! Kalindi showed us different elements of the land we were walking through, from the variety of plants we encountered to the ways the First Nations peoples navigated the landscape many years before. I would highly recommend the Duke of Edinburgh experience to anyone as it shows how if you put your mind to anything, you can get through it.
Our Students will complete their qualifying journey in Lamington National park in July.
Alita Lee
Deputy Principal