Combined Cadet Force

The military training may include fieldcraft, weapons safety, camouflage, first aid, survival skills, .22 shooting (in the CCF range) and tactics. Training often takes place at the school’s Cheapside Farm. All cadets have the opportunity to attend a series of camps and exercises, such as the Winter Camp and the Summer Camp, both of which are held at army training areas and attract over 100 cadets. Every year about ten of the senior cadets attend cadet leadership courses, putting them in an excellent position to help run the Corps.

The RAF cadets work towards their Part One and Part Two certificates while completing Air Experience Flying at local RAF bases. Opportunities exist for leadership courses and gliding scholarships while annual training camps are held in the Spring and Summer holidays.

Adventure Training Exercises are held every year and attract many army and RAF cadets. In recent years, the CCF has spent weeks in Norway and Scotland enjoying the magnificent surroundings and completing training in a series of activities, including: white water rafting, canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, ice climbing, mountainous trekking & camping, abseiling and go-karting. In 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2018, cadets spent three weeks on an adventurous training exercise in Tanzania. Cadets raised funds over the preceding year which they spent on renovating local orphanages in Mwanza on Lake Victoria. The exercise then took cadets across the Serengeti, up Mt Kilimanjaro and to the Indian Ocean beaches of Zanzibar. Both were “trips of a lifetime”.

MARLBOROUGH PARTNERSHIP

Since January 2015, the CCF has been joined by fifteen boys and girls from the Marlborough Science Academy in a partnership sponsored by the Cadet Force Association.

The students from Marlborough are fully integrated and participate in all the activities with the St Albans students, including taking part in the Annual General Inspection in May 2015. Whether taking part in a physically gruelling gun run or testing their marksmanship, they thoroughly enjoy themselves as part of the cadet force. The aim is to build the partnership with more cadets from Marlborough, together with staff training, until Marlborough Academy is in a position to launch a cadet force of its own.