This weekend 27 cadets from four of our schools expanded their leadership skills by attending The Bronze Leadership Course at Barr Beacon School. The course was held centrally to allow our cadets to share ideas and harness the fundamentals of leadership training.

Our cadets began the day by learning how leadership styles can affect the output of teams in a practical environment, this was reinforced with group discussions and scenarios based on real-time situations. They then moved onto practical leadership tasks in which each of the candidates were assessed on implementing their own leadership styles.

By the end of the day all 27 cadets achieved the Bronze standard and had a great time in the sun. Well done all!

Today our two Contingents were involved in a field training day designed to train and then test our cadets in field craft activities. 

All of the cadets worked together in groups made up of both contingents to encourage collaborative working, confidence and sharing of ideas. They then were put through their paces with a number of testing scenarios in which the designated commanders had to lead their teams. Many of the cadets commented on how much they had learnt and all wanted to know when the next day or camp would take place.

A big thank you to all of the staff who attended & supported the event.

As Covid-19 is still affecting our lives, it has not stopped the Bloxwich Academy Cadets from taking part in the CCF Programme. The Cadets paraded, over the summer holiday, once a week to refresh their training as the lockdown limited them from what they could participate in. The CCF staff from the school generously gave up their holiday time to make the training happen. Bloxwich Academy were the only school in the area to parade straight out of lockdown and probably the only school in the UK to do this. This just shows the dedication of the staff and Cadets as all involved get a lot out of the CCF programme.

So far this academic year the CCF programme has started with a major recruitment drive across all year groups in the school with 32 pupils choosing to attend the CCF programme. This now brings the total amount of Cadets at the school to 52. This is Bloxwich Academy’s largest intake and it is only the start of our third year. The Cadets are now starting to run the unit themselves with Cadets delivering lessons to the new Cadets. This is a big achievement as this is only the start of year 3 and the Cadets lost time due to lockdown.

One of the Contingent Commanders favourite jobs is to promote Cadets in recognition of their hard work and dedication. Cadet R has been promoted to Lance Corporal and now takes the second in command position in his flight. Lance Corporal H has been promoted to full Corporal again in recognition of her hard work and dedication to the CCF programme and takes the position of Flight Section Commander. Promotion is open to all Cadets as long as they meet the promotion criteria.

The contingent has won a grant off the Combined Cadet Force Association (CCFA) to help fund projects planned later in the year. With the first project being to purchase rock-climbing equipment as Bloxwich Academy have some budding mountaineers.