As 2020 draws to a close I would like to thank all of the Parents, Guardians & Cadets for your continued commitment and support to the Squadron, in what has been an extremely challenging year for all of us.

Nobody could have predicted the events of this year and moving our activities from face to face to a virtual platform was a huge challenge for both the RAF Air Cadet organisation and the unit staff.  I would like to personally thank my staff for their commitment and support in moving to the virtual platform and delivering a wide variety of activities and lessons throughout the year.

The Cadet NCO team have been very active in assisting the staff team to deliver activities and I would like to thank them for their support and professionalism.  They have delivered presentations and some amazing Quizzes, which have been popular with both Cadets and staff. The Cadet NCO Team have been consistent in their attendance and support of online activities throughout the year, as well as keeping up the morale and interest of the younger Cadets.

Despite the challenges posed by both the COVID-19 pandemic and our new learning environment the Cadets have continued to achieve a lot throughout the year.  We have delivered two blocks of Aviation based training that has allowed Cadets to continue to work towards their BTEC Qualifications as well as pass their Classification exams.

In addition, we have delivered presentations on Cadet activities such as Annual Camp, Flying, Gliding, Shooting and the Squadron’s own Section Commanders Course. The Squadron has also been able to deliver online Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme training as well as Fieldcraft, Drill and Uniform upkeep.

We even managed to hold a Squadron Promotion Board.  Congratulations go to Cadet Gentle who successfully passed the Promotion Board and has now been promoted to Cadet Corporal.

A number of external courses have also been made available to the Cadets including Radio and Cyber Courses.  Some of the Cadet NCOs have also been able to attend Promotion courses online as well.

My Staff have also been busy with Sergeant Bower, Sergeant Way and Pilot Officer Williams all virtually attending their Initial Courses at RAF Cranwell allowing them to become fully qualified in their rank and remove the dreaded ‘white tapes’.  In addition, staff have continued to do the necessary annual mandatory training to keep them up to date with their qualifications.

My Staff have also been busy working with the wider RAF Air Cadet organisation behind the scenes, in order to get the Squadron back to face to face training.  Given the current circumstances it is unclear as to exactly when this will be, however I will keep Parents and Cadets updated as things develop.

In closing I hope we can look forward to a better year for all in 2021 as well as a return to face to face training as a Squadron.  I would like to wish Staff, Parents, Cadets and their families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to a new year of Cadet activities in 2021.

Yours Sincerely

Flt Lt K Haywood

Dear Cadets & Parents/Guardians

In light of the restrictions we currently face, the organisation has been working hard behind the scenes to provide infrastructure and IT solutions to launch the delivery of the Cadet experience through virtual Parade evenings.

The 2358 staff team have also been working hard behind the scenes familiarising themselves with this new technology and ways of working, and I am pleased to announce that we now feel ready to begin delivery of virtual Parade evenings.

We will be publishing events through Cadet Portal, which will automatically send an email to each Cadet, Cadets should then copy the link to the live presentation from the event into their internet browser and join the event at the specified time. The first event is planned for this coming Thursday.

Watch out for changes to the Calendar on this website with updates to the planned events. Parents will be contacted directly in due course to support this communication to ensure all Cadets are aware that we are back up & running.

Cadets & Parents/Guardians should email the Squadron of they have any difficulty with these new planned arrangements, especially those who have not yet established a working Cadet portal login.

Flt Lt K Haywood

OC 2358 (Ferndown) Squadron