With the sun shining and fantastic weather, The Ramsey Academy kicked off this year’s Duke of Edinburgh with its practice expeditions over the weekends of 6 May to 7 May and 13 May to 14 May. The buses were loaded, kit bags packed and stretching at the seams, students set off from a small farm just south of Colchester and from here they walked, talked and ate for a collective time of 6 hours each day.

Students all had a great time learning to read maps and find hidden footpaths in the overgrown countryside and hidden along the sides of farmers’ fields. They took well to the challenge of putting up tents and helping others do the same, before settling down to a well cooked dinner, comprising of mainly defrosted burgers on a portable cooker. Some even remembered the tomato ketchup!

Both groups showed great teamwork and were a fantastic reflection of the school, who received praise from some very tired Cub Scout Leaders on how well they settled down for the night, whilst their 7 and 8 year old children were wreaking havoc on the other half of the site.

We thoroughly enjoyed the two weekends away with this year’s campers, and look forward to the assessment weekends in July being just as much fun.

PS we will try not to melt the marshmallows next time.

Mr A Lugton, Miss H Ralph and Mr N Murray