A TEAM of students at King's College, Taunton, are looking forward to visiting a Royal palace in London.

The 17 youngsters have successfully completed their Duke of Edinburgh gold award - usually students complete that level while at university.

The successful group are Jennifer Stapleton, Emily Glazebrook, Elena Close, Tara Bell, Sophie Whitfield, Helena Winsey, Harvey Walsh, Zachary Spiers, Jo Cooke, Alexander Michaels, George Retter, Edward Keeling, Henry, George Pritchard, Oliver Fox, Josh Stickland and Thomas Frankham.

Headmaster Richard Biggs said: “We are proud of our Duke of Edinburgh programme at King’s, which sees good numbers succeeding in the bronze award and, unusually for a school, in the gold as well while they are still with us.

"The gold award represents many hours of dedicated service, training and a gruelling final expedition.

"We have an outstanding team of staff supporting the programme, and this success owes much to their commitment and professionalism.”