On Thursday 13 October 52 #PangCollYear11 pupils gathered together in eight teams to prepare their ‘route cards’ for their day’s practice expedition. The expedition was an 18km-walk in the beautiful, Berkshire countryside. The day’s walk was in preparation for their 3-and-a-half days’ practice expedition which will take place later this academic year in Llangorse.

The training was a very important exercise in rebuilding navigation skills, with a particular focus on: orientating the map to the ground with a compass before making navigational decisions, always having the map the right way up, and having two members of the team navigating at all times, measuring distance, and timings. It was also a helpful exercise in enabling pupils to learn how to communicate and work together well within their teams.

Mr Andy Crossley, Head of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme at Pangbourne, said, ‘The exercise was an invaluable opportunity for Year 11 pupils to practise their navigational skills and refresh themselves on aspects of their Bronze Award which many of them did under COVID restrictions and which were, as a result, not as bedded in as they would have normally been at this stage.’

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