Covering 1-31st January
January brought another challenge as the country re-entered Lockdown for the third time. Our Training Team spent no time in creating a new Virtual Learning plan, to engage our cadets and continue their development during the lockdown.
Unlike the first version, which was delivered over Google Classrooms, and the second, which was delivered on masse by the Command Team, the new plan consisted of three points:
- Unit Training (Delivered over Zoom)
- National Training
- Promotion and Development
We started with Unit Training and developed a training plan, lead by the Divisional Officers, that allows knowledge development and aims to increase retainment of subject-matter. The Divisional Officers worked hard to create engaging sessions and set to recruit the assistance of their Divisions to deliver them. We then had three classrooms created - Maintops, Quarterdeck, Royal Marines Cadets.
Next was the National Training, where our Unit Training Officer and Unit Admin Officer looked out at difference Sea Cadet Facebook Pages, and scoured Westminster, for courses being delivered at different levels. By doing this, contacting the relevant cadets or sharing it on social media, we are able to let the cadets engage in new ways.
Finally was Promotion and Development, where our Command Team worked with the Divisional Officers to see who is approaching promotion and setting up a time to conduct interviews. After these three were thought on we came to the following system:
- Virtual Parades on Friday
- NO Parades on Sunday, but the time to conduct specific training and interviews
- Booking cadets on all courses that they wish to attend
Our first Virtual Parade was on the 22nd of January 2021, and we had 70% of our cadets attend. We then reached out to cadets who didn't attend to try and help them access the Virtual Learning. Our second parade was on the 29th of January 2021, where we retained our cadet percentage as further modules were delivered.
We have also had a total of 28 Cadets book onto different courses across the month of January, which is a wonderful achievement.
In addition to cadet training, we are also getting our staff developed as we have booked them onto 10 courses to aid their promotion.
On 14th January we held our Annual General Meeting, in which we saw our elected Unit Management Committee step down. After an update on the year just gone, and the prospects for the year ahead discussed, we had our Unit Management Committee voted back in, with three additions. We now have an 8 strong Unit Management Committee.
Regardless of the challenges presented, T.S. Sutton Coldfield has risen to the challenge to deliver high-quality training and development opportunities.
