A DYNAMIC group of pupils have scored a first for their Basingstoke school.

The pupils at Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College have become the first in the school’s history to achieve bronze Duke of Edinburgh awards.

The Year 11 students had to carry out a range of challenges to complete the award, including volunteering, learning a new physical skill over three months and planning a two-day expedition of between 15 and 24 miles.

The award scheme was launched at Cranbourne last September.

David May-Miller, 15, who completed the bronze award, said: “It was very different to everything else – pretty much everything else you do like this, you do with adult supervision.”

Francesca Magnani, also 15, said: “It gives you some independence.

“It was good to get to know people who I didn’t necessarily hang around with a lot of the time.”

Cheyenne Greenland-Jones, 16, particularly enjoyed the expedition.

She said: “It was one of the best times I had last year.”

Susannah Stanley, Duke of Edinburgh Award co-ordinator at Cranbourne, said the group of students who took the challenge had learned how to be independent and work as a team.

She said: “They have built on their social skills and they have learned practical things like putting up tents, cooking and how to get themselves out of difficult situations.”