Students celebrate gold achievement

Students from the Stamford Endowed Schools are celebrating after receiving their gold Duke of Edinburgh awards in a special ceremony at St James’s Palace.

The 13 boys and 12 girls were presented their awards from the trustee for the awards, HRH The Earl of Wessex.

Edd Smith, director of outdoor education at the 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 the gold award.

“The pupils have developed as people and gained many new skills throughout their D of E journey, and this will serve them in good stead for the future.”

Will Phelan, principal of the schools, who also attended the presentation, said: “It was with a huge sense of pride and admiration that I witnessed our students being presented with their awards.

“To gain such an award is a tremendous achievement in life and the pupils should be incredibly proud of their accolade.

“The experience of undertaking this award, while challenging when balancing other school commitments, will certainly have helped them to hone invaluable skills for the future.

“Once again, congratulations for all the hard work and dedication.”

During the presentation, the Earl of Wessex took the opportunity to congratulate the group on their successes and hear about their journeys, which took each of them between a year and 18 months of hard work and dedication to complete.