In the second event of its kind, lead organiser Challenger Troop CIC, along with The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, The Royal Gurkha Rifles and The Army Outreach Team facilitated a range of command and communication-based activities for teams of 10 KS4 students of schools from Dover, Folkestone, Ashford and Canterbury.
Each team had five challenges to complete in a set time and were scored on the result. Assessment was based on overall team performance, with effort, participation, team-member engagement, leadership, communication, teamwork, and completion of the task in the time allocated all taken into consideration.
A representative of Viscount De L’Isle, The Lord Lieutenant of Kent presented the Inter-school Challenge Winners Trophy to Tartan Troopers from Folkestone Girls Grammar school who narrowly beat Jason’s Bad Boyz from Brockhill Park Performing Arts College. In addition, awards for the best individual team leader and the most outstanding individual team-member’s contribution to the team and task were also awarded.
A teacher from one of the participating schools said “The day was a massive success. Our students enjoyed every minute of it and found the whole experience thoroughly rewarding. The activities were fun and challenging, and the event was so well organised that everything flowed perfectly. The organisers and event leaders were enthusiastic and explained everything clearly. It was also rounded up at the end in such a way that everyone went home with an extra feel-good factor. A big thank you to everyone involved!”
Simon Dean, CEO of Challenger Troop said “This event is very much in the spirit of the Armed Forces Community Covenant, where local communities come together to support the armed forces community and encourage activities which help integrate the armed forces community into local life. As a provider of uniformed youth leadership and engagement programmes, we see on a daily basis how the values and standards of the armed forces can help and support disengaged young people in our community.”
"Outdoor learning is giving them back their childhood wonder and curiosity at new things, allowing them to experience the marvel of discovery and the learning that comes from taking risks"
