The award consists of five sections: skill, volunteering, physical, and residential as well as the expedition, giving students a chance to gain lifelong skills and follow their passions in more depth than in the previous awards. Not only this, but the award acknowledges a huge variety of activities for each of the sections, including going abroad for the residential, which is a total of five days away, and can be anything from assisting with the conservation of turtles in Costa Rica to helping out at a Scout camp closer to home.

As for the expedition itself, a total of seven of us are completing the award this year, meaning we can all work in one group, and every Thursday- during a study period- we meet to receive the guidance we need from our supervisor to accomplish both the practice walk in June as well as the real thing in September. The walk is a total of four days and three nights and, whilst preparing, we receive support with aspects such learning first aid, navigation and equipment as, unlike Bronze and Silver, Gold is much more independent and therefore respected by employers and Higher Education institutions.

Thank you Chilwell Sixth Form for helping me achieve this!