PREPARING FOR GOLD: HNC’S DofE STUDENTS TAKE PART IN GOLD EXPEDITION PRACTICE
27.06.2025HNC’s Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) students have recently taken part in a practice expedition, building their navigation, orienteering and camping skills ahead of their final gold award expedition in July.
At HNC, students are encouraged to take part in a wide variety of enriching experiences, and all students joining the College have the opportunity to take part in the DofE to gain their gold award, regardless of whether they have undertaken their bronze or silver award previously. The DofE scheme is a nationally recognised and well-regarded experience that universities and employers alike appreciate due to the critical thinking and resilience skills that the scheme develops in those who take part. The College’s well-established DofE team work with students throughout their time at HNC to complete this challenge, and this includes a number of development sessions and practice expeditions throughout the year.
As part of the groups’ final preparations for their upcoming expedition to the Peak District National Park in July, 18 students taking part in the DofE enjoyed a very sunny practice expedition in the Calder Valley, where they spent three days exploring the local area and camping in Hebden Bridge at the Old Chamber Farm campsite. During the experience, students taking part put their map reading skills to the test, successfully navigating their way through local countryside to reach the campsite. Staying for two nights, students also had the opportunity to further develop their camping and cooking skills, with all students successfully meeting the requirements to progress to the next stage of the award. A few images from the expedition can be found below.
Joe Norton, Head of Faculty: Enrich, comments “Students taking part in DofE develop a well-respected set of skills that genuinely support them to progress to their next steps with confidence. Throughout the gold award process, students take part in volunteering, develop new skills, participate in a sport or physical activity, and experience an expedition. The award concludes with a five-day residential. Due to the nature of the activities, students who do take part in the award build a wide range of personal skills, from developing their confidence and resilience to their critical thinking skills – and those taking part genuinely stand out from the crowd when applying for their next steps after college, whatever those steps may be. This weekend was a challenging one, with temperatures in the valley reaching almost 30 degrees. The group genuinely embodied HNC’s values of resilience, collaboration, motivation, and enthusiasm, and I look forward to our final expedition in July! I would also like to thank HNC staff and DofE volunteers Lisa, Jay, Joe, Lee, Tatiana and Alan who supported the groups across the expedition”.
Taking part in enrichment is one of the key ways in which we support students at HNC to become their best selves. Find out more about the College’s extensive enrichment programme at our upcoming Year 10 Open Event on Thursday 10 July. If you’re joining us this September, don’t forget you can join a DofE information session at Hudd Fest to learn more about what to expect.
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