A Royal Reward for Remarkable Achievements
We are delighted to share that several Upper Sixth students have recently received their Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Gold Awards, a truly prestigious and hard-earned accomplishment. Achieving the Gold Award represents the highest level of commitment within the DofE scheme and is recognised with a special celebration at a Royal Palace, attended by a Member of the Royal Family.
Last Friday, the first group of this year’s Upper Sixth students were invited to the Palace upon completion of their DofE Gold Awards. The students were delighted to receive their invitations and were permitted to bring one guest along with them.
At the Palace, students enjoyed a Garden Party where Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, greeted them and spoke to all of the recipients of the Gold Award. Prince Edward is the Patron of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and took over this role from his father, Prince Philip, who founded the Award in 1956. Prince Edward himself achieved a Gold Award in 1986 and has been a Trustee of the DofE since 1988. The Prince congratulated all of the Gold Award students, including the Upper Sixth RGS students along with some of last year’s Upper Sixth RGS students who also attended the event.
In attendance from last year’s Upper Sixth were Annie Hallowell, Natalie Owen, Katie Robinson, Amy Saunders and Emma Woolhouse.
From this year’s Upper Sixth cohort, Elizabeth Crookall, Sophie Jackson, Katy Pitt, Grace Williams, Sophie Rouse, all attended and described their experience.
Katy said, “I really enjoyed my trip to Buckingham Palace. We sat in the Palace gardens, amongst hundreds of fellow Gold Award recipients, with the sun shining and it was a lovely way to celebrate our Duke of Edinburgh journeys. DofE from Bronze to Gold Awards has offered challenges, opportunities and wonderful memories that I will cherish forever.”
Sophie said, “An unforgettable day at Buckingham Palace was a great way to finish our Gold DofE. Speeches from Prince Edward and Dr Ranj were inspiring to hear and it was amazing to see the number of people who had achieved their Award.”
Elizabeth said, “It was such a privilege to go to Buckingham Palace on Friday to celebrate the culmination of years of hard work towards our Gold DofE Awards. It was an incredible experience and it was also lovely to see several RGS alumni who were also celebrating finishing their Award. DofE has been an amazing adventure and I have made so many special memories!”
Head of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award at RGS Worcester, Mr Gwilym Batchelder commented, “The visit to Buckingham Palace is a special occasion indeed and the culmination of many hours of endeavours. To attain the award, students will have volunteered weekly for at least a year, undertaken a physical activity and skill weekly for at least six months and completed a residential project. The residential is a shared activity or course with people they don’t know in a residential setting away from home. In all of these elements students will have had to demonstrate significant progress, personal development and improvement. Finally, students will of course have undertaken a training, practice and assessed expedition. This is often a very memorable part of the Award involving teamwork and self-sufficiency over four days and three nights. To achieve a Gold Award remains challenging and a real achievement. Very many congratulations to all. I hope they can continue to foster a love of the outdoors and enjoy many more adventures.”
Headmaster, John Pitt, said, “Congratulations to our Gold Award students and we look forward to seeing the others join them and have their opportunity to visit Buckingham Palace in due course. The DofE is a fantastic scheme which encourages students to work together, take the lead, and develop resilience and determination. The Gold Award requires considerable commitment to complete, so well done indeed to the students who have completed it, whilst also doing their academic studies and enjoying all the other opportunities at RGS.”
The Headmaster added that his only regret was that he was not able to join the students at the Palace – because Mrs Pitt took the invitation to go along with Katy!
We warmly congratulate all our students who have achieved their Gold Awards this year. They have shown their resilience, teamwork and determination. If you would like to find out more about the DofE programme at RGS Worcester you can do so here.
