On Sunday morning, bright and early, Mr Pettett and I met 13 Duke of Edinburgh's International Award participants at Nyugati station to embark on a hiking and camping journey in the Borzsony forest for 2 nights and 3 days.
The DofE IA programme involves various elements and this group of students has been working towards long-term goals in skills, community service and physical activity. Also, they have already completed one practice journey similar to this one to train and prepare.
This trip was the students' 'qualifying journey', meaning they needed to plan the route and food independently and also carry everything with them that they needed to be self-sufficient for 3 days. We had some concerns about the weather but, fortunately, it remained mainly dry but quite cold and windy- especially at the top of Nagy Hideg Hegy which really lived up to the name!
As always, the Hungarian forest was beautiful and gave the students lots of observation so they are ready to give presentations next week on their chosen topics of changing flora and fauna and human impact and litter. The students behaved impeccably throughout the 3 days and showed high levels of independence, tenacity and perseverance to complete the 3-day hike.
I'm also pleased to report that they all supported each other incredibly well and created memories and friendships that will long outlast the blisters and aching muscles. Congratulations to all students for the successful completion of the Silver IA journey and thanks to Ms Ford and Mr Pettett for making this experience possible!
Katie Belshaw
Director of World Languages
Luke Pettett
Head of Science
