In May, 13 boys and 12 girls from the Stamford Endowed Schools’ in Lincolnshire attended a presentation at St. James’s Palace, London, they received their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards from the Trustee for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), HRH The Earl of Wessex. During the presentation, HRH took the opportunity to congratulate the group from the Stamford Endowed Schools’ on their successes and heard about their DofE journeys, which took each young person 12 to 18 months of hard work and dedication. To achieve a Gold DofE Award pupils volunteer, learn a skill, get fit, take part in a week long residential and plan and undertake an expedition in wild country. Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people, DofE programmes enable any young person aged 14 to 24 to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment and team working. Mr Edd Smith, Director of Outdoor Education at the Stamford Endowed Schools’ said, ‘I couldn’t be prouder of the students. It is always fantastic to see students receive their award at the Palace. This truly gives them the recognition they deserve for the hard work and commitment necessary to gain their Gold Award. The pupils have developed as people and gained many new skills throughout their DofE journey which will serve them in very good stead for the future.’ There are currently more than 300,000 young people taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh programme across the UK and the Stamford Endowed Schools’ have a high number of students taking part in DofE programme with over 100 students recently attaining their Bronze and Silver Awards.