CCF RAF Cadets Named 4th in South West
On Sunday 8 February, 13 cadets from the Pate’s CCF RAF Section from Years 10 – 13 journeyed to RAF Halton to compete in the Royal Air Squadron Trophy (RAST) Competition for the South West Region.
The competition decides which school’s RAF section is best, assessing cadets on a variety of subjects in the RAFAC syllabus. Fifteen schools competed on the weekend with 9 competing on the Sunday. The top 3 placed teams would progress to the Nationals stage of the competition, where teams compete for the coveted Royal Air Squadron Trophy and to be named the best CCF RAF Section in the country.
The competition included various elements: Shooting with Scorpion air rifles, First Aid, Cyber, completing the Space X docking simulator (Space), Drill and a Command Task. Since our Pate’s RAST Team had come 1st in the South West and 4th at Nationals two years ago, the bar was high and our team had not competed last year, none of our RAST team members had any prior experience of the competition. Space and Cyber was also introduced to the competition last year, so our team did not have any experience in these parts of the competition, in particular.
The team gave a brilliant effort, preparing during CCF Parade nights and during Thursday Lunchtime drill practices at school in the lead up to the event. We ended up being placed 4th overall in the South West, missing out on advancing to Nationals by just 3 points; we were awarded 1st place in First Aid and Cyber, and 3rd in Shooting.
A special mention must go to Cpl Jeff (Yr 12) who was named Best Shot in the South West, which places him in the top 6 nationally – a massive achievement for him; well done Jeff!
We look forward to hearing about the successes at RAST next year and hope that the next team can go one step further.
Anish, Yr 13
Cadet SWO (Squadron Warrant Officer)
Pate’s CCF RAF Section,
Head of Pate’s Adventure, APO Hannah Christie added,
“Huge congratulations on a brilliant to our whole Pate’s team, and well done to Jeff on your brilliant achievement. You should all be really proud of the result, and fundamentally the efforts and dedication you demonstrated in the lead up and execution on the day.”
