Students develop great teamwork skills at British Army Careers Activity Day

Two soldiers, from Bourlon Barracks at Catterick, delivered a careers and activity day which saw 155 Year 7 to 9 students take part over the course of the day.

The session was designed around developing and embedding soft employability skills. Students looked at skills such as communication, decision making, organisation and adapting to situations during their activity of archery tag.

Students were put through their paces in a dodgeball type game of archery tag where three teams competed to be session champions in a battle of ‘winner stays on’. As each game progressed, the teams of mixed Year 7, 8 and 9 students improved their communication, decision making and organisational skills to remain in the game and become ultimate champions.

At the end of the session, students had the opportunity to ask the session leaders questions about the British Army. They posed insightful questions based on careers, entry to the army and progression, as well as asking the soldiers about their personal experience and training within the army.

Mr Birdsall, Service Children’s Advocate, said: “The Students thoroughly engaged in all five sessions throughout the day and it was great to see the mixed teams of students from Years 7, 8 and 9 working together to try and remain undefeated within the game. Students demonstrated great energy and camaraderie throughout the day and it was fantastic to watch them enjoying themselves in such a fun challenging game. It was really positive to see them take a keen interest in the military, whether as a career aspiration or a keen interest in the soldiers’ current time in the army. We most certainly will be booking again for next year!

“I look forward to having the British Army Outreach Team in School and College for a team building activity day for our older school and sixth form students. Their session will start with a careers’ presentation and then an outdoor activity session to give the students a taste of Army teamwork and problem-solving skills. The Elite Skills session will be full of challenging tasks that develop mental and physical attributes.”