Field Day - Where It All Began

Field Day for the whole school began about 7 years ago, when many of us would sit inside watching members of the CCF run around doing exciting activities. In the process of launching the Wild Monkton initiative, we decided to take the opportunity to get everyone involved.

As we became more aware of the enormous benefits to students of being outside in nature we were keen to pursue a whole day of activities that would plunge them into the outdoors with adventure, moments of calm and offering choice.

We continue every year to refine the program and we respond to student requests as we plan this and future days. This year it was our wettest yet, with an extraordinary amount of rainfall in the afternoon. The students were given the choice to go and get dry or stay outside and a large number did stay out as the catering team supplied hot chocolate on tap and kept the dining room hall mopped. The students' energy, morale, engagement and positive attitude has become more and more inspiring as we see them take risks, try new things and support each other. The students climbing in the rain was particularly impressive! The whole day is supported by WOLT outdoors.

Adventure Activities

Years 11 and 13 should have been on the river at Saltford, but due to the heavy amount of rain of recent days a land based set of activities had to be brought in. We had the climbing wall in the Chapel quad, frisbee golf in the Binmead meadows, combat archery on Four Acres, axe throwing, pioneering and archery on Hillside, and even low ropes behind Art and Design.

Army

On Field Day the Army section remained on the Monkton grounds, participating in a wide selection of activities. A classroom-based workshop engaged our cadets with learning the history of the cadets and their standard. Our aim was to educate our Year 10s about the significance of CCF and the various benefits of being a cadet and what is expected of them when they put on their uniform. We are incredibly impressed with how our cadets engaged with the lesson and how they applied that knowledge into the practical sessions.

On the parade square our cadets practiced their drill. It was awesome to watch the Year 10s improve their skills as quickly as they did on Friday. Many of them started their sessions lacking in confidence and proficiency, and hence we are pleased to report that every cadet passed their drill assessment with flying colours at the end of the session. The aims of drill in CCF were fulfilled, resulting in a group of proud, alert and obedient cadets. 

In the field, the cadets learnt how to move through a battlefield scenario as efficiently and safely as possible. From stealth, to patrolling, to moving at high-pace, the Year 10s have become a menacing force. As we are the Army section, it would be wrong to exclude applying cam-cream and rolling around in the mud on Field Day! 

In the afternoon, the Year 10s returned to the classroom to finalise their training with the cadet air rifle. The air rifle lays down the foundations of using weapons systems safely and confidently, and we are excited to progress onto the .22 Number 9 Rifle and the 5.56 Cadet Rifle in the future. All of our cadets passed their weapons handling tests and were given the opportunity to shoot for their last session. There is work to be done with the accuracy of our cadets in the range, but it is always good fun to get behind the rifle and see what you can do. 

Our first Field Day of this academic year has been an absolute success, and we are so pleased with the engagement and confidence of this group of Army Cadets. These attributes are fundamental to being a cadet, and so we look forward to rewarding the Year 10s with a full and exciting year in the CCF. 

Sgt Maj Lynch and CSgt Halligan

Falconry

Falconry UK returned to us again with their inspiring set of birds - An Eagle owl, Kookaburra, Pygmy Falcon, Frog Owl and a Pygmy Owl. The awe inspiring experience of being up close to these animals was extraordinary - watching the Kookaburra keep his head absolutely still as his body bounces around and the camouflage ability of the Frog Owl literally made him invisible in his natural habitat.

Mindful Activities

On Field Days it's really important that we offer a breadth of activities, so as an antidote to the adventure activities we have a selection of calmer ones that enable a more mindful approach to being outside, often involving craft skills or diy. This year we have been carving pumpkins, making autumn wreaths, playing giant outdoor chess, constructing an outdoor kitchen and making Swift boxes.

RAF

As always, spirits in the RAF section were high as we left for Weston Super Mare in our coach as we were all confident that we were about to have the best field day out of all the other sections, a day at the Helicopter Museum. Once we had arrived, we were introduced to the museum through guided tours in small groups allowing the cadets to ask in depth questions with true experts on the exhibits. The museum had some really impressive exhibits featuring aircraft Murray M.1 all the way to a Vietnam War section featuring aircraft used by the U.S such as a Bell UH-1H or “Huey”, the museum was also home to the helicopter used in the Marvel film “Black Widow” MIL Mi-24D “Hind” equipped with missiles and AK-47s which proved very popular with cadets. The day out also meant that the section got to see a live Service Wildcat landing and take off in the museum's back garden which was very exhilarating. After lunch all the cadets got a guided tour around the cockpit of a renovated helicopter as well as the back of a transport helicopter which the cadets found very exciting. The rest of the day was spent looking around the additional sections of the museum discovering more about the history of the airfield that the museum is built on along with an opportunity for the NCOs to spend some time on some basic, yet still useful, flight simulators. As always the gift shop never failed to deliver with cadets picking up some impressive models of F-15s and some RAF helicopter rescue patches. This was truly another successful RAF section field day expanding cadets primary knowledge and promoting STEM ideas.

Sgt Lacey

REME

During this year's field day, the REME section embarked on an educational trip to the Beaulieu Motor Museum. We were privileged to partake in a very interesting presentation delivered by the knowledgeable Beaulieu staff, shedding light on the evolution of automobiles throughout history. Subsequently, we were granted an extensive guided tour of the museum, where we received comprehensive teaching on the historical significance of the exhibited automobiles.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore the Motopia exhibition, which delves into the integration of the past 130 years of motoring history into contemporary automotive concepts. Additionally, we were given the extraordinary chance to experience a chauffeured ride in a vintage Austin car, which was over 95 years old.

As the day drew to a close, we were allocated some free time, enabling us to see the Top Gear exhibition, go on a scenic monorail around the picturesque Beaulieu estate, and survey an array of diverse automobiles, ranging from the first ever automobile to the cutting-edge land speed record vehicles. This trip provided us with a profound understanding of the automobile industry's historical development, influenced by intricate interplays of social and economic factors.

Sgt Brenner

Royal Navy

During this field day, the Royal Navy section took a trip to Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard. After leaving the school in the morning, the cadets were in high spirits. We arrived in Portsmouth at about 10:30 and after checking in, we had a brief period before the water bus was opened. During this time the cadets had the chance to take a look around the dockyard at the varied exhibits, such as the Victory gallery and HMS Warrior. The water bus opened at 11:30, so we took it over the harbour to take a look at the submarine museum and we were lucky enough to get a tour around the HMS Alliance sub, which was a fascinating experience for the cadets as the got to experience how submariners would live first hand.

After a brief period of lunch (and a visit from a friendly fox!), we returned to the water bus that took us back across the harbour to the historic dockyard. The whole section took a look around the HMS Victory, which was a fascinating insight to all the levels and sections of the old sail powered warship. We then proceeded to head back to the coach, with a small detour to the co-op in an attempt to sustain the energy within the cadets. We then got on the coach and headed back to school.

CPO Burgess

Self Defence

Self-defence was an extraordinary session where a large proportion of Year 12 students took part in dynamic personal safety and self defence workshops with Libby and Silpa from Soar with Us.

Using real life scenarios and role play, Libby and Silpa taught a range of strategies for personal safety, ranging from preventative actions when travelling to new places through to physical skills and movements. By the end of the sessions the students had successfully fended off boxing gloves in one-to-one testing and responded to simulations of surprise threats.

This is part of the program for preparing students for life after school when many go on to live in some of our larger cities and take gap years. 

Swift Boxes

We have quite a recognisable Swift colony on the school site and having walked the school in high summer with local conservationist Simon Stuart from A Rocha, we are very excited to say that the students have made 12 new Swift boxes to be added to the north side of the school buildings.

Simon believes that we have one of the largest Swift colonies in the area and by adding more boxes we are quite likely to help the growth of the colony and help protect a species whose numbers are in rapid decline, a very exciting biodiversity good news story. The present Swift and House Martin boxes can be seen from Church Lane on the Maths and Science building and above Farm and School boarding houses. In the summer two thirds of the boxes were believed to have nesting pairs in them and the maintenance team have very kindly offered to get them up in time for the Swifts return in the Spring.

We were also able to construct a Swift box that has been donated to us by A Rocha UK.