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12 NEWS FROM THE COLLEGE

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD: A DIFFERENT VIEW

Students and staff embracing The Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award scheme (D of E) at
Ratcliffe College have had a lot to celebrate.
Catherine Cole, D of E Co-ordinator at
Ratcliffe, was personally thanked by the
Duke of Edinburgh at St James’ Palace for
her fifteen years of service to the scheme.
Catherine was nominated by Leicestershire
County Council and has been at Ratcliffe
since 2007.

Catherine has helped young people to
achieve their award by providing training
for expeditions, advising on the different
sections of the award, and helping the
students to use the D of E online national
database. She added: “This is a family affair,
as my husband, Paul, helps to run our D of Anastasia Benfield-Dexter (15), Catherine Cole & Joseph Dickinson (14) at St James’ Palace
E centre, and my daughter, Abigail, has
been on as many expeditions as most of the participants. Back they should have had plenty of material to work with. Normally,
at school, there is a lot to do: we train them to read maps, plan an expedition of this level is a real challenge, not just physically,
routes, stay safe, camp, do first aid, and more. We advise them on but also mentally and emotionally. Many participants struggle to
their other sections: volunteering in the community, learning a stay positive when spending every hour with the same group of
new skill (or hobby), and some form of physical exercise. At Gold people over such a length of time, but for the entire expedition,
level, they also go away and do a shared activity for five days and Joseph’s group were fine. They didn’t suffer the second or third
four nights, with people that they do not already know, as their day ‘blues’, and they all got on brilliantly for the whole of the four
residential section. We also help them to use the online national days. They just seemed to breeze through it.”
database, eDofE, where they record all of their achievements.
We organise and then accompany the participants on a total of Catherine added: “In contrast, Anastasia should have been a
around 25 days’ worth of camping and walking each year.” very strong candidate, but she was unlucky and suffered a very
bad fall while out walking with her family early on in the year.
Every year, over 100 students start the Bronze Award or move She was in hospital for several weeks and was advised that she
up to the next level - Silver or Gold. This is a significant number, would not be able to do any exercise at all, for the rest of the
considering that Ratcliffe College has 827 pupils (aged 3 to 18) year at least. We thought that it was the end of her Gold D of
in the whole school. E experience at the time. However, she made such amazing
progress that, by January, her consultant agreed that she could
Two former pupils, Anastasia Benfield-Dexter (15) and Joseph return to classroom training with us and actually go out on the
Dickinson (14), were also at St James’ Palace, being presented two expeditions later in the year. It was not easy for her, as she
with their Gold Awards. Catherine explained: “Joseph Dickinson was still not fully recovered, but she showed us just what she was
was a very strong candidate when it came to D of E, especially made of, and she completed her expeditions through sheer grit
the expedition section. Their group decided to study their morale and determination.”
across their four days of walking and camping on Dartmoor, and

RATCLIFFE & GRACE DIEU WORKING TOGETHER

At the end of the last Summer Term, Grace Dieu Manor
Preparatory School ceased to operate Years 7 and 8, instead
focusing its commitment on providing education of the highest
calibre to children up to the age of 11. In making this decision,
the Trustees and Governors at Grace Dieu have enabled the
Headmaster, Mr Fisher, to maximise the resources at his disposal
to achieve the greatest impact, in terms of teaching and learning,
as the children prepare for secondary education. This now means
that Grace Dieu has more closely aligned itself with Ratcliffe
College Preparatory School, in terms of educating children up
to 11 years of age. Grace Dieu has also opened a Day Nursery,
catering for children from the age of just 12 weeks to 4 years of
age. The Day Nursery will be open for 50 weeks of the year.

Register online at www.ratcliffianassociation.co.uk