Last week was dominated for me by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver practice expedition that took place on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

You can see more pictures and find out how everyone did in Mr Taylor’s report on the expedition here. My personal account is as follows……

Ten of us were set the challenge of travelling around Macclesfield via walking or canoeing..

The first day was an extremely challenging walk as we saw the views that Lyme Park and Disley Golf Course had to offer..

We returned to camp where we set up for the night..

After our delicious, gourmet evening meals..

..and finding out about Manchester City going through to the semi-final, we then made off to bed only to discover that one of us is a very loud ‘sleep talker’. That, together with the sub-zero temperatures meant that we didn’t get much sleep that night.

Thankfully, the carbohydrate overload that I enjoyed the night before as well as a whole load of personal dedication was put to good use on day two as we walked alongside the canoeists..

The sunshine finally made an appearance and rallied us on to the finish! It was mainly successful for a practice expedition as we know what to expect on our qualifying expedition this summer and what will be required – I have definitely learnt not to pack so much..

Apart from the Duke of Edinburgh’s expedition, I could almost say that we had our first ‘quiet’ week for a long time as the daily grind began to kick in. However, our Friday Activ8 Rugby League sessions are going from strength to strength, with the standard of play constantly improving as the weeks go by – the excellent coaching by our great teacher, Mr Greenway, is paying off on the training field.

Yesterday was slightly different, as I spent the morning refining my skills as a leader working with the Autism Base as well as helping out in a drama lesson… (I have no idea why that happened!) My parents said that I should become a teacher one day which would be a big honour, especially seeing the hard work that all our teachers put in to give me and all the students here a good education.

I want to congratulate Oldham Roughyeds for their surprise win over Hull Kingston Rovers. Finally, a team from Oldham that you can be proud of! Also, Manchester City’s form has improved which has led to a much happier school….

Finally, over the coming term I am planning to organise some special editions of my blog. I am hoping that at some point I will do a blog with our Head Girl. Although I enjoy writing my weekly essays, I want to change things a little bit. You will have to wait and see.

Have a good week,

Matthew