May 2008 - Littleover Community School

105 Year 9 pupils took part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Bronze walks this year.
We had three days for different groups to go out. My group went on the 18 th March 2008.
It was a terrific day as well as an exhausting day! This was our practice short walk and we
went to a place locally in Radbourne. We originally started off at a farmhouse and walked
for roughly two and a half hours – non-stop! We met Mr. Moses, sitting in his little
minibus, at every checkpoint and he encouraged us very much.
Everyone was told to do map reading, which I think just about all of us hated.
Nevertheless we all had a go. Some of us in our group were really good at map reading for
example: Uroosa and Martine, but some of us really hated it, like Shazrina and myself!
Walking through farms with animals around, I found to be the most intimidating aspect,
but despite the great fear in my mind I managed to walk across.
In our group Sophie was one of the best, because she did not moan once and walked
really quickly all day.
“An incredible time I’ve had today and I can’t wait to do the real expedition,” explained
Maddiyah, as she climbed across the fence. And Sophie thought, ‘the rest of us needed to
walk more quickly’, as she was walking so rapidly, she left us all miles behind. I personally
thought that this was a remarkable day.
I would love to do something like this all the time, because it had not only given us time to
walk and get some excellent exercise, but it had also given us a chance to show off our
skills e.g. map reading skills, leadership skills etc. My group supported each other really
well. I’m sure the other groups did too, but there was exceptional support from our
splendid teacher Miss Lissett, especially in doing up shoelaces. Thank you!
Everyone who went for this practice walk loved it and I’m sure they are really looking
forward to the full day walk in June and the weekend expedition in September.
Sehrish Shaffiq
9 JRW