Emergency Services Cadets

The Cadet program run at the Bridgetown High School has been recognised for the work it is doing in nurturing our young people and helping develop their resilience.

The program has been running for around twenty years and is open for all students at the high school to attend, and at the moment it has a very even spread of males and females.

The cadets meet and take part in different activities each Tuesday after school.

A dedicated group of volunteers, John Tonai-Moore is the Unit Leader, with Cherie Old, Mike Kneel, Sarah Gardiner, Damion Treloar and Bianca Spice all give their own time to make the program a worthwhile learning experience for the cadets.

The cadets are split up into groups along the lines of the school year they are in, Year 7, 8, 9 and 10.

The training and experience they receive whilst being in cadets includes; First Aid, Orienteering, Map Reading and Compass skills, Rope work, Fire Safety, Abseiling, Water Base Rescue and Drill work.

The drill work is not only for discipline but so they can march in the ANZAC parade. The Cadets also take part in clean ups, bushfire prevention tasks and helping out the community in times of need.

Each year the students also take part in an overnight camping trip, year 7s will do an overnight stay, building up to year 10s camping for three days and nights.

John Tonai-Moore who has been involved in the program for nineteen years and is the Unit Leader talks about the cadets, “Each year the cadets numbers start off at around seventy, with some students finding it’s not for them, but over the year we have a steady number of fifty cadets taking part in program during the year.

“It is a great cadet program we run at Bridgetown High School, nurturing our young people and helping develop their resilience.

“The thing that really makes the program a success is the input from all the amazing volunteers at the school and in the community. The support we receive from all the local emergency services makes the program more ‘real’ for the cadets. “Funding for the cadet program is from the state government through the department of communities.

“This allows us to issue a uniform to each cadet, consisting of a shirt, hat, jacket, pants and boots.

“The funding allows us to offer the program free to our cadets so that it is accessible to everyone, no matter their financial situation.

“The most important element of the program to me is when I witness the cadets, who give each challenge that we present to them their best shot, which is not always successful, but time and again I see cadets rise to meet the many challenges they are faced with, then when they succeed, they triumph.

“I am very happy to be able to help nurture our future generations of emergency services volunteers.”

The school has won the 2021 Resilient Australia Award, Western Australian School Award. Therefore, the school as a WA winner is now a finalist in the national Resilient Australia Awards that will be held in November.

The Bridgetown High School Emergency Services Cadets program is certainly a worthwhile contender for the award.