Achieving Excellence: Three HGS Prep Students Achieve Gold and Silver Junior Duke Awards

The Junior Duke Award is the junior version of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award which encourages younger students to learn life skills to increase their independence and resilience. The award aims to encourage personal development and excellence in multiple areas, including academics, sports, arts, and community service. This is now the third year that KS2 students from Prep have entered the Junior Duke Award. There are four awards to complete: Bronze (Year Three), Silver (Year Four), Gold (Year Five) and Platinum (Year Six). Each one has ten challenges to choose from, seven of which have to be completed to receive the award.

Three outstanding students in our Prep School, Esa and Celestielle in Year 5 and Aurelie in Year 4, have recently achieved the prestigious Junior Duke Award. For the Gold Award, Esa and Celestielle had to complete challenges such as preparing a first aid kit for an outdoor adventure, swimming using two different strokes and baking bread. Celestielle said that her favourite challenge was having to perform a drama piece, although it was scary performing in front of an audience!

Aurelie, who completed the Silver Award, took part in a local litter pick with her classmates for her Eco task. She also made her own soup, took responsibility for getting herself up and ready in the morning and created a party invitation on a computer.

The Junior Duke Award serves as a significant milestone for these students, encouraging them to continue striving for excellence and contributing positively to their communities. It also sets a benchmark for their peers, highlighting the importance of a well-rounded education and the value of dedication and hard work.

There are many benefits to children taking part in the Junior Duke Award including:

• Bringing families together
• Helping build a community feel
• Creating natural conversation
• Giving a feeling of belonging
• Creating opportunities for parental links
• Finding and developing independence
• Discovering self-sufficiency
• Increasing resilience

We look forward to handing out more Junior Duke Awards in the coming weeks as more of our students complete their tasks.