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Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in secondary schools and is subdivided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self-reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance".
One of its objectives is "to encourage those who have an interest in the services to become Officers of the Regular or Reserve Forces", and a significant number of British military officers have had experience in the CCF.
Before 1948, cadet forces in schools existed as the junior division of the Officers' Training Corps framework, but in 1948 the Combined Cadet Force was formed to cover cadets affiliated with all three services. As of 2019, there were 42,720 cadets and 3,370 adult volunteers. The MOD provides approximately £28 million per year in funding to the CCF. Each school's unit is known as a contingent, and there were approximately 500 in the UK in 2021.
Although sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, the CCF is not part of the British Armed Forces or the Reserve Forces. As such, cadets and adult cadet leaders are not military personnel and are therefore not subject to military law or liable for military call-up. Some cadets do, however, go on to join the armed forces later in life, and many of the organisation's leaders have previously served as cadets or have a military background.
On 12 May 1859, the Secretary of State for War, Jonathan Peel, sent a circular letter to public schools and universities inviting them to form units of the Volunteer Corps. The first school cadet corps was established at Rossall School in February 1860, initially as an army contingent only. Felsted already had an armed drill contingent at the time of the War Office letter under the command of Sergeant Major Rogers RM; its claim on these grounds to be the oldest school corps was upheld by Field Marshal Earl Roberts in a letter to the headmaster in 1904. In February 1861, the Oxford City Rifle Cadet Corps was founded with five companies, the first composed of pupils from Linden House School, a private school in Headington, and the second composed of pupils from Magdalen College School. In 1908, the units were redesignated as the Officer Training Corps (OTC).
The CCF was created in 1948 through the amalgamation of the Junior Training Corps (formerly the Junior Division of the Officers Training Corps) and the school contingents of the Sea Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps. CCF units are still occasionally referred to simply as "the Corps". A school contingent may include any combination of Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, and sometimes Royal Marines sections; the Army section is invariably the largest.
The CCF movement was historically dominated by the independent sector, with around 200 contingents based in independent schools and only around 60 in state schools. Since the launch of the Cadet Expansion Programme in 2012, the number of contingents has increased to 500, surpassing the government's target. There are now more contingents in the state sector than in the independent sector. The expansion was funded by £50 million raised through fines imposed following the LIBOR scandal.
It was reported in 2008 that some independent school CCF detachments would be opened to pupils from local state schools. One example was Aldenham School in Watford, Hertfordshire, which linked its cadet force with the nearby state school Queens' School to form a joint cadet force.
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Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in secondary schools and is subdivided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self-reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance".
One of its objectives is "to encourage those who have an interest in the services to become Officers of the Regular or Reserve Forces", and a significant number of British military officers have had experience in the CCF.
Before 1948, cadet forces in schools existed as the junior division of the Officers' Training Corps framework, but in 1948 the Combined Cadet Force was formed to cover cadets affiliated with all three services. As of 2019, there were 42,720 cadets and 3,370 adult volunteers. The MOD provides approximately £28 million per year in funding to the CCF. Each school's unit is known as a contingent, and there were approximately 500 in the UK in 2021.
Although sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, the CCF is not part of the British Armed Forces or the Reserve Forces. As such, cadets and adult cadet leaders are not military personnel and are therefore not subject to military law or liable for military call-up. Some cadets do, however, go on to join the armed forces later in life, and many of the organisation's leaders have previously served as cadets or have a military background.
On 12 May 1859, the Secretary of State for War, Jonathan Peel, sent a circular letter to public schools and universities inviting them to form units of the Volunteer Corps. The first school cadet corps was established at Rossall School in February 1860, initially as an army contingent only. Felsted already had an armed drill contingent at the time of the War Office letter under the command of Sergeant Major Rogers RM; its claim on these grounds to be the oldest school corps was upheld by Field Marshal Earl Roberts in a letter to the headmaster in 1904. In February 1861, the Oxford City Rifle Cadet Corps was founded with five companies, the first composed of pupils from Linden House School, a private school in Headington, and the second composed of pupils from Magdalen College School. In 1908, the units were redesignated as the Officer Training Corps (OTC).
The CCF was created in 1948 through the amalgamation of the Junior Training Corps (formerly the Junior Division of the Officers Training Corps) and the school contingents of the Sea Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps. CCF units are still occasionally referred to simply as "the Corps". A school contingent may include any combination of Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, and sometimes Royal Marines sections; the Army section is invariably the largest.
The CCF movement was historically dominated by the independent sector, with around 200 contingents based in independent schools and only around 60 in state schools. Since the launch of the Cadet Expansion Programme in 2012, the number of contingents has increased to 500, surpassing the government's target. There are now more contingents in the state sector than in the independent sector. The expansion was funded by £50 million raised through fines imposed following the LIBOR scandal.
It was reported in 2008 that some independent school CCF detachments would be opened to pupils from local state schools. One example was Aldenham School in Watford, Hertfordshire, which linked its cadet force with the nearby state school Queens' School to form a joint cadet force.