Crompton House School’s second Duke of Edinburgh Presentation Evening on Monday 7th March was a great evening of celebration for pupils, parents and staff. In the sixtieth year of the award it was very pleasing to see that the award is as popular as ever with 103 Bronze Awards, 63 Silver and 21 Golds achieved so far this year.
Seven of the Gold Award students were at St James Palace the previous Tuesday to receive their certificates from comedian Greg Davies in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Phillip who spoke to a number of past CHS students about their residential and volunteering experiences when completing the award. The picture in the gallery above shows (left to right) Tom Upton, Naomi Southwell, James Charnock, Charlotte Adams, Rachel Emmott and Anna Turmeau. Also receiving his certificate but not in the picture was James McGlashen, who left CHS in 2013.
The awards at CHS were introduced by our D of E Organisers, Mr Hardman (Bronze), Mr Wroe (Silver) and Mrs Franklin (Gold) assisted by Mr Bradley who used to organise the Gold Award before moving to Bolton School. The presentations were made by Mrs Pam Sleigh, the North of England Operations Officer for the award. Mrs Buckley, who works tirelessly in the Hub helping pupils with registering their completed sections, organised the event and ensured the pupils all received the correct certificate and badge,
Year 13 students Anna Lord and Amelia Meanock, thanked Mrs Sleigh for her speech and for presenting the awards and gave her a bouquet of flowers and a cheque for the Diamond Challenge. Amelia spoke about her residential experience which was with the NCS Challenge, which has recently been offered to our Year 11 students for when they have completed their GCSE exams. For more details of this scheme, click here.
In closing Mr Upton, who is responsible for the award at Crompton House, spoke of how the award is valued by business and universities in this country and round the world. British Gas apprentices all follow the award, their skill is gas-fitting! At Manchester City the Academy footballers also follow the award, they coach football for their volunteering section.
As well as the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards, this year many have registered for the “Diamond Challenge” which is linked to the 60th Anniversary of the Award. All the CHS D of E staff have registered with a variety of challenges ranging from the 3 Peaks Challenge to learning to play the ukulele! One of the aims of the “Diamond Challenge” is to help fund wider access to the award so every “Diamond Challenge” participant needs to raise £60 on justgiving. For more details of the challenge click here.
The other pictures in the Gallery are from the 2014-2015 Bronze, Silver and Gold D of E activities.
