I am a cpl at my squadron, and was facing bullying from a sgt on my nco team- I have reported this to staff 4/5 times and they always say they will deal with it severely due to how bad it is, yet nothing ever happens. The same has happened to multiple cadets on my squadron dealing with similar issues with a cadet in their intake.
Now at the squadrons annual awards evening, both the Sgt and Cadet who were reported for bullying multiple times by multiple different cadets in recent months received multiple awards, with the Sgt receiving Best SNCO and the cadet being promoted! All through this the bullying they were reported for is continuing.
It just feels like my OC and staff team are turning a blind eye to what these cadets have done, despite the evidence they’ve been provided and the squadrons so called 0 tolerance on bullying.
What should I do about this? I’m unsure who else I could go to for this to be dealt with.
If you genuinely believe your reports of bullying are being ignored by squadron staff, you need to reach out to a wing member of staff. I believe there is information on cadet portal on how to do this
If you genuinley believe that you wellbeing either mentally or physically is being affected contact uour child protection advisor
Just to add to the above if so far you have only verbal reported then put in an email along with a timeline of events so it’s then official.
While verbal reporting should be documented & detailed it sometimes isn’t particularly if it is multiple members of staff.
Putting it in email written form gives an auditable chain of evidence from which to act.
Advice to you & the other cadets is log everything date, times & nature as it then becomes harder to argue against.
You can reports as per the previous posts to wing people or the child safeguarding advisor but I would advise you to approach paid staff at wing not volunteers.
Considering you are a cadet & assuming you are under 18 you could also ask your parents to help as well. If you haven’t discussed it with them as yet I would suggest you do if you feel comfortable.
Hope this helps
To add, anti bullying resources are on Cadet Portal (and links to external agencies).
If you feel you need to talk to someone outside cadets (such as NSPCC etc) please do so. They will never tell you off or say you shouldn’t have bothered them. They are there to help.
Thank you,
Yes I have sent multiple emails and made multiple statements for them, as has my dad who is chairman of the CivCom. Unfortunately it is still yet to be dealt with- with the most being done being the cadets getting a verbal warning after the first of five incidents.
I will contact my wing staff about the issue!
Ok that’s good your father is in the loop.
Just be aware that the organisation can take a while to process things which may seam longer than it should be reasonable.
sometimes the staff have to “play along” with a situation whilst evidence is being gathered & decisions being made particularly if additional information is uncovered that means you need to avoid tipping off the accused party.
Best thing to do is treat it like a HR process - note everything down, keep to facts not emotion & bear in mind that those in the chain wish to resolve the situation at the lowest level possible.
You may not get the resolution you think is appropriate but hopefully you get something.
Thank you so much for the advice- the first reports occurred back in January of this year, so I’m hoping it’ll be dealt with soon enough! Will see if I can get an update off staff on how they’re planning on dealing with this. The biggest red flag to me and my dad was that the cadets accused all won awards for being the best of their categories!
Awards evenings can be a bit varied as it depends on how the awards categories are calculated. If it is quantitative (I.e. a measurable number) rather than qualitative (a value based opinion) then regardless of what is going on they could still be the best in their category.
If the shooting award is for the highest score on Sqn, the adventure training for the most AT camps & sports for the amount of participation at wing sports then the cadet in question could well be the best & deserving of the award regardless of the wider situation.
Just be careful that any concerns include awards they got which can be easily demonstrated that they were the most appropriate person as it can come across as sour grapes & jealousy & harm your case.
It’s a tricky balance but try to focus on the direct interactions with yourself rather than other aspects which may detract from your case.
Will keep in mind thank you!