Expeditions put King’s Ely Senior students’ stamina to the test

Intrepid King’s Ely Senior students reached new heights during an action-packed half term break.

More than a dozen Year 9 Ely Scheme students travelled to Yorkshire to take part in the school’s annual Three Peaks Expedition. The challenge involves a circular walk bagging the summits of Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – covering a distance of just under 25 miles and all within 12 hours, which the team successfully accomplished.

A separate group of Ely Scheme Level 3 Hill Walking and Mountaineering students also spent some of their half term in Snowdonia being taught key skills in how to look after themselves and each other in mountainous terrain. The course covered efficient journeying over large ascents, decision making and dynamic route planning, as well as rope work and leadership skills to aid another person on steeper rocky terrain.

Just a few days previously, members of the King’s Ely Climbing Club put their Level 2 skills to good practice in Holyhead Mountain and Snowdonia.

The Ely Scheme aims to build important life skills that cannot always be taught in the classroom. While most independent schools have an outdoor pursuits programme, the Ely Scheme is both unique and central to the whole King’s Ely experience, as young people are given tangible opportunities to push themselves to achieve beyond anything they ever thought possible.

The aim is to develop each individual student through outdoor education and adventurous activity, concentrating on eight major elements: personal skills; self-confidence; teamwork; leadership skills; social and environmental awareness; problem solving; ability to cope with difficult situations and healthy respect for nature and the outdoors.

To find out more about the Ely Scheme, and other unique opportunities at King’s Ely, please visit www.kingsely.org.