Competing against 26 other teams, Kingham Hill School CCF participated in the Army’s prestigious annual Exercise STEM Challenge 2025. This year, the competition was hosted by the Royal Armoured Corps and held at their Stanley Barracks in Bovington, with the aim of the competition being to test cadets’ problem solving, technical skills and teamwork.
The challenge brought together 260 cadets (from a mixture of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and the Army Cadet Force (ACF)) for a dynamic week of hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities.
Tough Competition!
The teams of between eight to ten cadets rotated between several stands that comprised of teaching, practical and competitive elements. From taking part in a cyber security exercise with the Royal Signals, to learning about how to operate a bomb disposal robot vehicle around a course with the Royal Engineers, the teams were put through their paces, with the cadets getting a unique glimpse into real-world STEM applications.
It was a tough competition, but Kingham Hill School CCF did incredibly well, placing seventh out of 26 teams!
Cadet Ruby reflected on her experience commenting “We tried out various simulators, including an Apache helicopter simulator and an Ajax Armoured Fighting Vehicle simulator used for training in the army. We also worked on setups with the Royal Signals, tackling a scenario where an airport had been taken over, and our task was to figure out how to get it back under our control. One of the highlights was another detective-style challenge, where we had to decode messages encrypted with various forms of cypher, including scytale, morse code and scrambled audio – we won that task! The Royal Engineers were also there to give us a debrief about what they do and how to join. After that, we took part in different activities that tested our skills.
It’s easy to think of the army as just fighting on the front line, but there are so many roles behind the scenes – working with computers, decrypting secret information, or supporting operations in other ways. I now see that there are so many opportunities with the army, more than many people realise.”
Amazing Opportunities for Cadets
Contingent Commander, Kingham Hill School CCF, Simon Terry, commented “This was a fantastic opportunity for the cadets. We are very grateful for the various service engagement teams, Dorset ACF and the Royal Armoured Corps for coming together to deliver this outstanding experience. Throughout the week, all cadets were challenged and stimulated to complete the tasks set before them, encouraging unit cohesion and expanding their understanding and appreciation of varying platforms, skills and methods in use in the British Army.”
Congratulations to Kingham Hill School CCF and to everyone who took part and helped to make Exercise STEM Challenge 2025 a fantastic success!