The annual Cadets Celebration of Achievement event took place on 13 Jun 2023.

It was an opportunity to reflect on an extremely busy year and present some well-deserved awards to the Cadets.

The first awards were for Cadet Progress in their syllabus training. The syllabus is broken into 12 parts:

Military Knowledge Expedition

Drill & Turnout Adventurous Training

Skill-at-Arms Keeping Active

Shooting Community Engagement

Navigation Communication & Information Systems

Fieldcraft First Aid

It was great to see that every Cadet on Parade was awarded a Star Pass appropriate to their rank and experience and reflects a lot of hard work on behalf of the Cadets.

Basic Star Award

Cdt Zach Arbuthnot

Cdt Alfie Arpino

Cdt Alex Brown

Cdt Nathan Creighton

Cdt Cody Dingwell

Cdt Jacob Doherty

Cdt Mia Gibson

Cdt Summer Humphrys

Cdt Lucas Jezard

Cdt Caleb Shepard

Cdt Evelina Sturma

Cdt Emma Taggart

Cdt Amy Watson

Cdt Justin White

1 Star Award

Cpl Jody Gibson

Cpl David McAllister

LCpl Megan Collins

LCpl Blake Hammond

LCpl Anya Hill

LCpl Kyle Lupari

LCpl Jacob Kapigiannis

LCpl Jareth Moores

The second part of the awards are for Cadets who have excelled in a particular aspect of their Cadet journey.

The Awards were:

Best Shot:

This is for the Cadet who scored the highest over series of shoots, in either the Air Rifle (AR) or the Cadet Full-bore GP Rifle (GP)

1st: Megan Collins (GP)

2nd: Nathan Creighton (AR)

3rd: Jacob Kaprigiannis (AR)

Best Turned-Out:

For the Cadet who consistently attends with their uniform clean and pressed, with clean, polished boots.

1st: Anya Hill

2nd: Evelina Sturma

3rd: Emma Taggart

Best Endeavour:

Many Cadets work hard to achieve their best within the Cadet environment and whilst many may not achieve the highest score in a particular aspect of the syllabus, their consistent endeavour to do well is recognised and acknowledged.

1st: Kyle Lupari

2nd: Cody Dingwell

3rd: Zach Arbuthnot

Best Drill:

A key component of the Cadet Syllabus is Drill – this teaches Cadets self-discipline, commitment and team-working. This award is for the Cadets who consistently demonstrate a high level of competence in this aspect.

1st: David McAllister

2nd: Megan Collins

3rd: Lucas Jezard

Best Cadet:

Whilst the Cadet Syllabus is an integral part of the Cadet Experience, our key aim is to encourage Cadets to be the best that they can be. This award is for the Cadets who not only work hard during Cadet Training Periods, but also demonstrate empathy and support to other Cadet members and are always willing to help-out in the Contingent.

1st: Megan Collins

2nd: Anya Hill

3rd: Nathan Creighton

Promotions during 2022-23

Cadet promotion is based on 2 factors:

- Achieving the appropriate competencies within the Cadet Syllabus

- Demonstrating an attitude that reflects the Cadet Core Values, which are:

Courage / Discipline / Respect for Others / Integrity / Loyalty / Selfless Commitment

Only Cadets who can show progress on both of these two factors will be considered for promotion.

Lance Corporal promoted to Corporal

Cpl Jody Gibson – Nov 22

Cpl David McAllister – Nov 22

Cadets promoted to Lance Corporal

LCpl Megan Collins – Apr 23

LCpl Blake Hammond – Nov 22

LCpl Anya Hill – Nov 22

LCpl Kyle Lupari - Apr 23

LCpl Jacob Kapigiannis – Apr 23

LCpl Jareth Moores – Apr 23

Community Activities

Queens Jubilee Event – Summer 22: Cadets raised over £350 for the Children’s Hospice

Bag Pack in ASDA – Nov 22: Cadets raised over £250 for the RBL Poppy Appeal.

Remembrance Day Parade: Cadets took part in the annual Remembrance Day Parade in Larne, and one of our Cadets (LCpl Megan Collins) was part of the Honour Guard at the Cenotaph.

Cadet Activities

CCF Military Skills Competition – Nov 22

This is an annual event in which all the CCF Contingents compete for the CCF Champion Shield. Although most the schools present have been competing for decades, this was the first time that Larne High School CCF had been involved. Despite our lack of experience, the sheer enthusiasm in the team earned them a Commendation, each member of the team receiving a medal.

The team members were:

Cpl David McAllister LCpl Anya Hill LCpl Blake Hammond

Cpl Jody Gibson LCpl Megan Collins LCpl Jareth Moores

Cpl Jessica Leach LCpl Kyle Lupari Cdt Billy McNeilly

Skill-at-Arms Week-end – Feb 23

Whilst Cadets routinely fire the Air Rifle within the Contingent, this week-end was focused on introducing them to the Cadet GP Rifle, this is a full-bore rifle capable of shooting out to 300m. Most of the Cadets passed their competency test and were able to progress to shooting the rifle at Easter Camp.

Easter Camp – Apr 23

This years Easter Camp was in Palace Barracks, Holywood. The Cadets spent 5 days improving their Fieldcraft Skills and learning more about the Cadet GP Rifle, most Cadets managed to achieve very respectable scores at the full-bore range.

Summer Camp 23 – Jun 23

We are looking forward to attending our annual summer camp, which is in Altcar, Liverpool. This is a 7-day camp were Cadets can further develop their skills in Fieldcraft, Navigation etc. They will also have the opportunity to mix with Cadets from across the UK who will also be attending.

Duke of Edinburgh

We re-commenced the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme within the school this year. There are currently 12 Cadets going through their Bronze programme and we are hopeful that some Bronze Awards will be forthcoming by the end of 2023.

This is an exciting programme for the pupils of the school to become involved with, any pupil is eligible to join the programme.

Adult Staff Instructors

The CCF Contingent within Larne High School thrives because of the commitment and enthusiasm of the Adult Staff who willingly give up their time to work with the pupils within the Cadet environment.

We currently have 3 staff members who also happen to be teaching staff within the school;

SSgt Megan Chambers / Lt Sarah Hughes / Lt Ricki Doherty

Ms Chambers & Ms Hughes have been supporting the Contingent since its establishment in Oct 2019, Mr Doherty joined the Contingent when he moved to the school in 2022. These 3 members of the Adult Instructing staff bring enthusiasm and a sense of humour to the Unit, without their continued commitment, we would struggle to maintain our Contingent.

Last, but by no means least, we are extremely fortunate to have a very experienced School Staff Instructor (SSI), WO2 Tom Darkoh – Tom joined us in Sep 22 and has made a significant impact on the efficient running of the Contingent.

Larne High School CCF - Celebration Of Achievement 2022-23