FORMER St John’s students Emily Daubney and Roger Smith have returned to the academy in Marlborough to receive their gold Duke of Edinburgh award.

The teenagers are the first of five students to achieve the award at the school and met with new principal Nicky Edmondson to receive their award badges.

St John’s has run the Duke of Edinburgh Award for several years, but only started to offer the gold award two years ago.

It is a rigorous qualification that takes some time to achieve and is highly respected by universities and employers.

Emily and Roger, who left St John’s this summer after completing their A-level courses, met with Mrs Edmondson and talked about some of the new skills they had learned as part of their award, including beekeeping and bellringing.

Emily is now working as an activity leader for PGL holidays, and is also a leader with BXM Expeditions who run the DofE expeditions for a number of schools including St John’s. Roger is about to start his first year at Loughborough University studying economics and accounting.

Other ex-students to have completed the gold award through the school are Hannah Morris, Will Scott and Claudia White.

Mrs Edmondson said: “This was my first opportunity to meet ex-St John’s students, and I am delighted that I was able to present Emily and Roger with their Gold DofE Award badges.

“It is a great achievement and I am sure the award, combined with their academic qualifications, will set them in good stead in their future lives.”

The ex-students can now expect to receive an invitation to St James’s Palace, for a Gold Award certificate presentation from a member of the royal family.