Staff from across the Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing gathered at the Tally Ho! West Midlands Police main learning and Development Centre on Sunday 1 st August to take part a Learning and Development Seminar.

The seminar was opened by Sqn Ldr Martin Harrison, Learning and Development Officer for the Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing. Sqn Ldr Harrison gave a presentation in relation to the radical changes that are taking place in the ATC in the area of the training syllabus. Although there has been a delay of one year placed on the new examination structure coming into place, cadets who are already qualified at Staff cadet part 1 level will be able to wear the new Master Air Cadet badge. He further went on to clarify that staff cadet part 2 courses have now ceased. Sqn Ldr Harrison then went on to explain the new Methods of Instruction Course (MOI) which is planned to be introduced in 2011. This course is not part of the training syllabus, but it will give all those cadets who want to complete the course a thorough grounding in instructional techniques. The cadets who volunteer for this course will be expected to complete a day long course. Following the course, they will then have to deliver a lesson at their own Sqn which will be assessed by a member of the Learning and Development Team.

Wg Cdr Ladwa, OC Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing then gave a presentation which covered a host of subjects. He firstly announced that along with every other public service department, HQAC had been tasked in reducing expenditure by 25%. Officers across the ACO are looking at differing areas which include paid days for uniformed members of staff, and also administrative areas of the ACO. Wg Cdr Ladwa then went on to talk about the new ACE Platforms. These platforms have a wealth of technology on board and they enable both existing and prospective cadets to practice flying skills. Wg Cdr Ladwa reminded everybody that staff need to be qualified before these platforms can be used. The Wg Cdr also briefly talked about first aid training for the ATC and also a prospective course to be run by the NSPCC in relation to child protection issues.

Next up was Wg Cdr Mills, and he gave a presentation both on the current CVQO programme and the new proposed syllabus which should be introduced this year. All at the meeting were reminded that cadets currently going through the programme need to get their project books finished. Wg Cdr Mills also reminded that all adult staff that there are qualifications open to them through the CVQO system. Wg Cdr Mills also informed everybody that at this years Birmingham Military Tattoo, the ACO has been given a 12 minute slot to show case the ATC and the Cadet 150 celebrations. Sqn's will be shortly asked if they would like to take part in this event.

Following a good lunch, Sqn Ldr Harrison gave all the delegates a short presentation on child welfare and protection issues in the ATC and this, as usual, led to some healthy debate amongst the seminar audience.

The final presentations of the day were given by Sqn Ldr Martin and Flt Lt Adams and were in relation to the Bader System. Sqn Ldr Martin reminded all sqn's that they should now be using the system and that very shortly a cut off date will be given by Wing Headquarters and that following that date, all Sqn statistics will be taken directly from Bader. Following the presentation, a number of Sqn's asked Sqn Ldr Martin for their passwords to be reset!

Sqn Ldr Martin Harrison, Wing Learning and Development Officer, commented “A total of 49 staff from across the wing attended the seminar and most Sqn's were represented. A great deal of information has been imparted today and I'm sure that all the staff who attended have gone away with a clearer idea of the changes planned in the areas of training and also the importance of using the Bader system going forward. I would like to thank all those who gave up their Sunday to attend this seminar”.

The Power Point presentation given at the seminar will in due course be available on the Wing Website.

Article Submitted by:-
Fg Off Jennings - Wing Training and Development Team
For Sqn Ldr Martin Harrison, Wing Training Officer
05 Aug 10