Viscount De L’Isle with Brigadier C J Claydon MBE MA, Commander 2 (South East) Brigade and the winning team from The North School, Ashford, Kent
In the presence of The Lord-Lieutenant of Kent, Viscount De L’Isle, eight schools from the Folkestone area participated in a gruelling day of challenging activities designed to develop team spirit, build communication and teamwork skills. The event took place on Monday 21st October, at Shorncliffe Barracks, Folkestone. The first of its kind, lead organiser Challenger Troop CIC, along with The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, IMPACT and The Army Recruitment Team facilitated a range of command and communication-based activities for 7 teams of 10 KS4 students of schools from Dover, Folkestone, Ashford and Canterbury.
Each team had five challenges to complete in a set time and were scored on the result. Assessment was based on overall team performance, with effort, participation, team-member engagement, leadership, communication, teamwork, and completion of the task in the time allocated all taken into consideration.
One of the competitors clearly having a great time.
Viscount De L’Isle presented the Lord-Lieutenant’s Inter-school Challenge Winners Trophy to The North School, Ashford as well as an award to Furness School, Swanley as the runners up. In addition, a special award from The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment was awarded to a pupil from Furness School, who greatly impressed them with his resilience, overcoming his personal physical challenges to complete the tasks with as much enthusiasm and gusto as everybody else. In addition, awards were presented to the most outstanding individual team member within each team.
The Lord-Lieutenant, Viscount De L’Isle said “I am delighted to be present and support this event, seeing where young people are motivated and challenged, and so building core life skills. I have seen some outstanding examples of young leadership and teamwork which should help the participants as they go through life.”
The winning team from The North School, Ashford.
Simon Dean, CEO of Challenger Troop said “This event is very much in the spirit of the Armed Forces Community Covenant, where local communities come together to support the armed forces community and encourage activities which help integrate the armed forces community into local life. As a provider of uniformed youth leadership and engagement programmes, we see on a daily basis how the values and standards of the armed forces can help and support disengaged young people in our community.”
Alyson Pott, KS4 Student Support Manager, Norton Knatchbull School, Ashford said her team “thoroughly enjoyed themselves and certainly gained valuable experience in teamwork and communication, so it was a hugely rewarding day for them”.
It is hoped that this event will become an annual event open to all schools in Kent. Further information on Challenger Troop is available at www.challengertroop.org .
