At Castle Rushen High School, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme is thriving. This year, 24 of our recent Year 13 students earned their Gold Awards at a ceremony at Government House, representing over 60% of the 40 total Gold awards across the entire island.
We are proud to have a strong cohort currently working on their awards, including 24 at Gold, 32 at Silver, and 91 at Bronze. The time and dedication our students show is fantastic to witness.
Over the summer holidays, Mr Watt and local company Adventureology led 17 of our Year 12 (now Year 13) Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award students on their expeditions to the Lake District.
Based in Glenridding, the groups spent four days hiking, canoeing, and wild camping.
They successfully summited well-known peaks such as High Raise and Red Crag, and even tackled the iconic Striding Edge on their ascent of Helvellyn.
All three groups canoed the full length of Ullswater—some facing particularly tough conditions along the way.
In true DofE fashion, the weather was far from perfect, with rain on three out of the four days leading to flooded tents and gruelling 10-hour “Plan B” routes.
Despite the challenges, every student demonstrated resilience, determination, and a positive attitude throughout.
Castle Rushen High School would like to extend a huge thank you to the Adventureology team—Paul, Jenny, Arthur, and Callum—for their invaluable support in delivering our first off-island Gold expedition in many years.
We are incredibly proud of our students’ achievements and hope they took a great deal from this unforgettable experience.
Meanwhile, 7 of our year 12 (now 13s) Gold Award students hiked from the Point of Ayre to The Sound over 4 days, an expedition closer to home but equally as challenging.
The girls displayed great determination and teamwork throughout the expedition.
Their success was all the more impressive because only one student had previously completed their Bronze and Silver awards. This meant the other five jumped in at the deep end and, after a few days practice and training, they went on to complete a feat that not many on the island have accomplished.
The girls spent the four days hiking along the vast northern beaches, traversing the middle hills at the interior of the island, wild camping in misty forests and tackling the infamous coastal footpath in the South of the island, all with full weight rucksacks.
Expedition groups from across have come over and given up on those sections. Our girls didn’t! They should be extremely proud of their efforts. We certainly are!
Beyond these impressive expeditions, our CRHS Duke of Edinburgh Award students are quietly making a significant impact by completing their volunteering hours within the community. These activities are diverse, including: sports coaching, assisting the elderly, beach cleaning, Girl Guiding, assisting at religious events, volunteering with local charities, working with animals, supporting St John Ambulance, and helping children with literacy and numeracy.
During the last DofE season alone, CRHS students completed over 3,000 volunteering hours!
At CRHS, we talk about our 'Head, Heart, Hands' - what we mean by this is we aim to develop the whole person, helping our students become knowledgeable, empathetic, and skilled individuals who make a positive and meaningful contribution to our society. The Duke of Edinburgh is a brilliant example of this. As the saying goes, 'From small seeds, grow mighty oaks' and this is true when we consider the lasting impact of the Duke of Edinburgh Award on our students and within our community.
A massive well done to all our DofE Award students!
The school is immensely grateful to Mr Watt and Miss Clague and all the staff who have given up their time to make the 2024/25 DofE season possible - Ms Cottier, Ms Livingstone, Mr Seddon, Miss Buchan, Miss Crispe, Miss Busby and Mrs Taylor.
We were delighted that Mr Watt's contribution to the Manx community was acknowledged by the Lieutenant Governor at the recent Gold presentation.
