Achievements
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
This year over sixty pupils have been involved in the scheme, forty at bronze level the pressure of examinations continues to deter other than the most committed older pupils from taking the higher awards.
A particularly large number of former and senior pupils finished their gold award this year: Hannah Croft, Christopher Campbell, Tabitha Stokes, Alice McEwan, Clarice Rarity, Katie Campbell, Dan Myers, Edward & Sam Cheney, Sam Glanfield, Hannah Brown, Simon Venn and Tom Cella.
Caving
Most caving trips have been to Swildon’s Hole with 3rd Year pupils. Caving is a new experience for many of the pupils and this location provides an exciting novice trip. The cave is well decorated with stalactites and stalagmites, and there is a selection of sporting climbs, crawls and squeezes.
Canoeing
Wet conditions in the Autumn Term of this year have provided excellent conditions for canoeing. Canoeists have paddled at their usual Dartmoor venues including the rivers Dart, Walkham and Tavy with good water levels. We also managed a trip to North Wales. The has School has a new open boat fleet that has been used to learn new skills and help prepare the Gold D of E group for their canoe expedition. Canoeists have also had an opportunity to try surfing on boards (rather than kayaks) at Croyde.
Climbing
There has been some superb development both in terms of the numbers participating and in improved standards. Regular training at the School, other indoor walls and outdoors at local venues has improved the climbing standard and associated skills by a significant margin. Teams entered the Bristol Area Schools and Independent Schools competitions. The pupils produced most creditable results, raising their confidence and impressing the organizers. A number of maximum scores were posted with the team placing third and second respectively. Outdoors, a group has recently visited Snowdonia to climb the East face of Tryfan via a traditional route.
Sailing
Competition sailing has recently been re-introduced, staff have passed RYA courses, there have been increased participation levels across two terms and links with other schools have been improved. With a core squad of six racers, the School has attended away fixtures at Oxford and Ringwood. We also ran a successful training trip to Weymouth, the venue for the 2012 Olympics. Regular sailing takes place at Chew Valley Lake, 45 minutes from School.
Ten Tors
The Ten Tors team did enormously well this year, finishing the 35 mile event by 11.36 on the Sunday morning. This success was the outcome of a comprehensive training programme, miles of walking in all conditions at extraordinary times of day and the determination and good spirits of all who were involved.
