More than 200 students have completed outdoor sections of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award challenges at Harrogate Grammar School this month, in another sign of life getting back to normal.

Eighty year 11 students spent May Day bank holiday weekend completing the practice DofE bronze award expedition, which was called off when lockdown was imposed last year.

They then went straight on to the two-day expedition, which was the final challenge of the award that tests young people’s problem solving, life skills and resilience.

The next weekend an unprecedented 144 year 10 students completed training expedition walks aimed at developing their teamwork, communication and camping abilities ahead of their qualifying DofE bronze award expedition in June.

Neil Renton, headteacher at Harrogate Grammar School, said:

“It’s wonderful to see our students getting back to normal school life, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award challenge.

“Learning is not just about being in the classroom, the skills they develop through our wide range of extra-curricular activities will serve them well for life.”

Teachers Jake Kempton and Laura Chesworth organised the expeditions and said students were delighted to be back outdoors.

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Mr Kempton said:

“Seeing the looks on students’ faces and receiving feedback from parents shows the scheme has had such a positive impact.

“It would have been easy to cancel the expeditions again this year but after the challenging 12 months these young people have had we thought it was massively important to go ahead.

“We were particularly proud to deliver the expeditions this year as it felt like a fitting tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh. As teachers we take great joy in being out there with the students as part of an experience that creates lifelong memories.”

Ms Chesworth said it was crucial the year 11 students completed the outdoor expedition as they had spent the last two years completing the award’s other qualifying sections, which involve physical challenges, learning new skills and volunteering. She said:

“They’ve shown resilience, flexibility and worked hard to adapt their challenges to still meet the criteria during lockdown.

“We wanted to do them justice by seeing them complete the award as a whole.”

To satisfy the demand for DofE expedition places, extra staff volunteered to help supervise, and outdoor adventure organisers the Lupine Adventure Cooperative provided trained and qualified DofE expedition leaders.

Other school trips are now being planned as Harrogate Grammar School eases back towards normal teaching life.

Year 11 and year 13 are both having a day of fun at Flamingo Land next week.

Year 12s studying a BTEC in outdoor education have already resumed their practical studies and are taking part in their own expedition in Swaledale and Wensleydale.

Year 7 are looking forward to the humanities visit to Bolton Abbey and geography fieldwork trips are in the pipeline.

Plans are being made for a year 9 residential trip to the Lake District next spring.

PE fixtures have resumed for the summer term.

This column is written for The Stray Ferret by Neil Renton, the Head Teacher of Harrogate Grammar School: 

The world has changed; the equilibrium has been disrupted. Within a period of three weeks we have effectively shut down our school and we are trying to see around all the different bends ahead of us and somewhere in the distance is a new equilibrium.

During the February break, I received a number of calls from a member of staff who was leading our ski trip to Northern Italy. A student had broken his wrist in a fall and we discussed how we would get him home as we felt he should be with his family and receive treatment from the NHS. The week after, our work on Coronavirus began as we received news of lockdowns, category 1 and 2 areas in Northern Italy. Some individuals who had been on the ski trip self-isolated, but we kept school open and we started to communicate about the virus, and stress the importance of washing hands. Things developed at a pace in the wider world and we then cancelled an exchange trip to Germany. Within a couple of weeks, we had reduced the number of year groups in school due to staff absence. Then, the Prime Minister announced that schools would close. As a result, our school population of over 2000 children and 300 staff on site was reduced to 15 students per day and a similar number of staff. We said our rushed goodbyes to Year 11 and Year 13. The rest of our school population were told to teach, learn and work from home.

            You are constantly learning when you lead an organisation and in my first year of Headship, I wasn’t expecting this. In the space of a short period of time, we have not only created a mini-school within our school for the children of key workers and vulnerable children, but also shifted all working practices online. This includes teaching and learning, line management, briefings and training. In the background, we have studied the financial impact, studied guidance on how students will be given centre assessed grades without sitting exams, set up systems to support families with free school meals and created new safeguarding policies for new ways of working. We have done this whilst staying positive, standing tall, but remembering to keep two metres apart. Leading in a period of rapid change, not surprisingly, creates new challenges and many unintended consequences.

            Many of those unintended consequences involve stories of acts of kindness and stories of resilience. One of our Sixth Form students left flowers on his neighbours’ doorsteps; my colleagues in the Design Faculty have pulled together, developing a prototype visor using the laser printer, before manufacturing 1000 visors, in a week, to help support with personal protective equipment for health professionals. I also like the story of one of our youngest students who gets dressed in their uniform every day so that they can keep a routine when they learn at home. I have a real sense of pride in how our whole community has responded to the many challenges that we have faced. These acts of kindness and the resilience of our community show real strength in a period when everyone is adapting in a moving equilibrium.

Our online routines start again this week, but I really hope we can return, safe and well, to school soon.