Mayor of Henley Award 2020-2021 for Year 4

The Mayor of Henley Award scheme was launched with enthusiasm at the start of the new year and was offered to year 4 children. This year, with all its challenges, has been a trial run, however, it has been a great success. The award is a simplified children's equivalent to the Duke of Edinburgh Award but closely mimics its structure, with three different sections and an expedition.

The MOH Award has challenged the children and encouraged them to show commitment and determination in reaching their goals. We are very much looking forward to the award being offered to years 4 (bronze), 5 (silver) and 6 (gold) in September. For each level of the award, the children must complete three sections: faith, skills and physical, after which they complete an expedition. The purpose of the faith section is to choose an activity which allows one to do something for the benefit of others and potentially develop their relationship with God depending on the nature of the activity. Many children this year decided to do a volunteering activity such as litter picking and other chores around the house. The skills section provides an opportunity for children to develop a skill that they already have or to learn a new one, with numerous children choosing activities such as cooking or playing a musical instrument. The physical section allows the children to develop a physical activity that they already engage in or to start a new one. The final section is the expedition, of which the premise is for the children to go and explore the outdoors.

This year for the bronze award expedition, led by Mr Mason, nine year 4 children walked to Upper Thames Rowing Club to explore the sport of rowing. The children were given a tour of the boat bays, the clubhouse and had a brief lesson on how to row using the rowing machines, after which they all raced 100m as quickly as possible with a benchmark time set by Mr Mason. The children really enjoyed the expedition and some came away very inspired and eager to try rowing themselves in the future. Trinity is grateful to the Captain of UTRC (Stewart Bell) who made the expedition to the rowing club possible. With the lockdown and COVID 19 restrictions to deal with, Trinity is thankful to the parents for their continued support with the MOH Award activities this year.