Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014 1 www.hants.gov.uk

AUTUMN 2014

Supporting service children in

Hampshire briefing sheet

Contents

Hearing the voices of service children in

Hampshire

Supporting service children at Crofton

Hammond Infant School

Soldiers into schools

Books from the School Library Service

booklist to support service children

Pupil information profile

The launch of the New Arrivals Ambassadors

Mentoring Programme

Diversity Project Big Ideas Day

HMS Heroes

Contacts and queries

Welcome to the sixth issue of the Supporting service children in Hampshire briefing sheet.

We are pleased to share with you good practice from Crofton Hammond Infant School, the top tips for schools devised by students at

the service children conference at the University of Winchester and information about the launch of the New Arrivals Ambassadors Programme. There are new books to support service children, news of a diversity project and much more. I hope you feel better able to support service children at your school.

Glyn Wright County Inspector/Adviser for PDL

E-mail: glynis.wright@hants.gov.uk

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Hearing the voices of service children in Hampshire

The University of Winchester hosted a Creative Forces Day for children from military families. Fifty pupils from primary and secondary schools across Hampshire spent a day at the University of Winchester as part of a special initiative for service children. They represented RAF, army and navy children from across the county.

The Creative Forces Day, a collaborative event arranged by the University of Winchester and Hampshire County Council Children’s Services Department, enabled the children to meet students from military families who are currently studying at the university, take part in creative writing and drama taster sessions ,and have the opportunity to explore the issues around being a service child.

“This is the first event we have organised for

children from military families and we were very pleased with the response from the young people and their schools,” said Dr Terri

Sandison, Director of Lifelong Learning at the University of Winchester. “Our own students from military families shared their experiences

with the children, school staff and each other. The ideas we collected from the children and the students will be fed back to schools across

the county and we hope to run more of these tailored events in future.”

The event culminated in children identifying top tips for school staff in how to increase in-school support for those from military families. Tips included clubs for service children; an inter-school pen pal system, to keep in touch

with friends from previous schools; help with writing blueys (letters) to deployed parents; and

participation in specific projects to distract from stress when parents are away.

Accompanying school staff took part in a workshop led by Glynis Wright from Hampshire County Council Children’s Services Department. Staff explored current support initiatives for military service children and considered how best to further support pupils who may have to experience multiple home and school moves or have parents on active deployment.

The teachers attending identified what they thought some of the issues were for service children at their schools and then shared some of the excellent practice which is happening across Hampshire.

The top tips from the students

Invite guest speakers from similar

backgrounds.

Give students opportunities within school to

write letters and have help with blueys.

Be lenient in relation to days off when

parents are returning from deployment.

Set the students goals and projects as a

distraction from stress.

Map where deployed parents are when they

are away.

Have a school counsellor who can focus on

military issues.

Have a teacher buddy – someone specific

you can go to.

Provide a good support system within

school.

Make sure all the teachers are better

informed about what it is like to be a service

child.

Have educational and social events

specifically for service children.

Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014 2

Have one-to-one opportunities for tutors

and service children.

Have more understanding of the individual

students’ abilities and situations, especially

when moving to new schools.

Have an area in school for students to use

to chill out when parents are away so they

can talk to others in similar positions.

Encourage the children to create a memory

book of the things they have done at school

which could be sent to parents who are

away.

Encourage an inter-school pen pal system

between friends from old schools.

Allow time during the school day to talk to

parents when they are deployed.

Hold an after-school club where spouses

can go and talk to others whilst the children

are at another club.

A club for children from military service

families.

Hold workshops around things like anger

management.

Allow students to have a picture of absent

parents on their desk.

Run school trips to see the air base or navy

ships.

Schools to share the same support worker

covering military service children.

Have a buddy system in place.

Encourage fund raising for military families

and injured soldiers.

Have good online support for parents.

Have less non-essential homework so there

is more time to spend with families.

Hold meetings for military families to

discuss what they are struggling with

regarding their children, as well as what the

children struggle with.

Include education for other children about

what the children from military families

experience.

Keep track of military children’s education.

Encourage the children to make cards for

parents.

Have a message board on a website.

Provide reflection time to help the children

stay positive.

Have a great teacher!

Issues that teachers believe are of concern to service children included:

parents being away

inappropriate play, eg gun play

friendships

self-esteem

turbulence – always being the new kid

both parents serving

moving around

separation

disruption of family life

different issues/or none

feeling different

gaps in learning.

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Ways of addressing these concerns and issues

Giving them opportunities to talk.

Having forces bears.

Holding drama workshops for forces

children.

Providing a Services Family Support Group.

Creating a forces club – lunchtime, once a

week.

Having emotional literacy support assistant

(ELSA) support.

Training buddies to help develop friendship

groups.

Creating drop-in sessions.

Enabling parents and students to use

Skype.

Having coffee mornings for the mums.

Heroes after school club.

Time to write e-bluies (e-mails).

Holding a Camo Day.

Having a Red, White and Blue Day.

Engaging with Reading Force

(www.readingforce.org.uk)

Raising awareness through assemblies.

Raising awareness of service life.

Engaging with the local regiments or bases.

Holding a Forces Day.

Starting a services radio station.

Starting a Feel the Force group.

Having a teddy that travels with dad.

Having the parents in for coffee and the

children bake.

Having a world map so that children can

indicate where relatives are.

Having a services display board.

A big thank you from the students and teachers attending from the following schools:

The Wavell School

Crofton School

Alverstoke CE (Aided) Junior School

Hiltingbury Junior School

Balksbury Junior School

St Alban’s CE (Aided) Primary School

Blackfield Primary School

Bedenham Primary School

Kimpton, Thruxton and Fyfield CEPrimary

School

St Peter’s Catholic VA Primary School

Newtown CE (Voluntary Controlled) Primary

School

South Wonston Primary School

Western CE Primary School.

Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014 4

Supporting service children at Crofton Hammond Infant School

At Crofton Hammond Infant School over 30% of our children come from service families. Therefore, we are always looking for new ways of supporting both the children and their families, especially during difficult times such as deployment. One of our most popular events is a weekly service family drop-in, which we host

in our nurture room. During this session service family children can come along to write blueys

and draw pictures to send to parents who are away, or just find a quiet space to think, or to talk to adults about things that might be worrying them. The room has displays of photographs of special grown-ups who have been away and we have lots of supportive books that can help the children with their feelings. We have a teddy bear called Ben who often goes on deployment with a parent around the world and writes back to the children at school and sends wonderful photographs. When a parent is deployed, each child is given a knitted doll that resembles their parent and the parent is given a similar doll that resembles their child as a memento. We track where in the world family members are on a world map and share the letters that they send back to their children at school.

As a school we also host a keeping in touch

coffee afternoon for parents and younger siblings, which takes place once a month in our school hall and is an opportunity for people to come together and talk, as well as share ideas and support with each other. This is also attended by our cluster family liaison officer who shares ideas, such as how to keep in touch with parents when they are away or how to count the days until a parent comes home. As a cluster we have been successful in obtaining funding from the Service Families Grant to fund our family liaison officer to devote two days a week to supporting families with more complex problems in their own home.

On 10 October we participated in Red, White and Blue Day, a national initiative to support and celebrate members of our Armed Forces. The day was organised by a team of staff and

volunteers, many of whom are in the services and regularly attend our keeping in touch

afternoons. We were lucky to have so many offers of help for the day and the children were given the opportunity to experience some fantastic activities. Children and staff came dressed in red, white and blue for the day and luckily the rain did not dampen the fun! Activities included getting fit Royal Marine style with an obstacle course in the school hall, led by one of our parent governors who is in the marines, a

challenge for children and staff alike! Children also learnt how to make rockets out of lemonade bottles with the help of a parent in the RAF. The children then took the rockets out onto the school field to fire. Their faces were a picture as they watched them shoot about 50 metres into the air!

5 Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014

We had a visit from an expert at the Submarine Museum and children learnt about what it would be like to live on a submarine now and in the past.

The children were very excited to see members of the Collingwood Field Gun Crew with their gun on the playground. They were able to have a go at pushing it round in the rain, which they loved. The children also participated in making poppies, decorating cakes and making bunting to display around the school. At the end of the day the parents were invited to come to school

and join us for the grand finale in the playground. The children each planted one of the poppies they had made around the large oak tree in our playground, as the Collingwood Training Band played for us. Children, staff and parents all participated in a minute of remembrance and the children performed Sing.

It was a very moving occasion.

Parents had the opportunity to buy the cakes that had been decorated and buy tickets for a raffle to raise money. We were very fortunate to have been given some wonderful prizes by local companies who support the services.

The day was a huge success and the children were inspired and excited. The whole school community worked together to make the day such fun, which could not have been done without the involvement of the local community. All of the children in our school now know a huge amount about the armed forces and those

children from service families in our school felt a huge sense of pride in their families. As a cluster of schools we raised over £1,000 for the Red, White and Blue charity.

http://www.redwhiteblueday.co.uk/

Soldiers into schools

Teaching resources from the military on the First World War are available at:

www.army.mod.uk/FirstWorldWarResources.

There is also a programme to train up soldiers to be able to come to schools in order to support teachers to look at the soldier of today and that of the First World War. The first set of soldiers have now been trained and are ready to come out to schools.

You should use this link to book a Soldier to Schools:

www.army.mod.uk/training_education/25659. aspx/eurl.axd/758a913d14099b4eb76efd 1544c85b20.

Just fill out the application form and send it off as directed, and a soldier will be in contact with you to make arrangements.

Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014 6

Books from the School Library Service booklist to support service children

Why not use some of your Service Children Premium to purchase books for your library. They become a sustainable resource.

Billie Templar’s war

by Ellie Irving

Billie wants her father home so he can help her win the three-legged race at the school carnival. She enlists the help of the Queen! (KS2)

Leon and Bob

by Simon James

An imaginary friend keeps Leon company while his dad is away. Then a new boy moves in … (KS1)

Archie’s unbelievably freaky week

by Andrew Norriss

Madcap events in this story as Archie’s friend Cyd waits for her dad to arrive home. (KS2)

Come home soon

by Pat Thomas

Explores issues children might face with parents working away in the armed forces. (KS1)

A million angels

by Kate Maryon

Jemima is worried about her father returning to Afghanistan. (KS3)

7 Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014

Coping with absent parents

by Mary Colson

Looks at why parents may be absent, the emotional effects and how to deal with them.

If you are interested in obtaining any of these titles, please contact your local School Library Service (SLS) centre or send a message via the website:

www.hants.gov.uk/sls.

The SLS can loan copies of these titles and also offers a bookshop for purchases with a 22% discount. Not all the titles are currently available to buy, but SLS centres may have the titles in stock.

Pupil information profile

“Service children often attend many different schools over the course of their school life. This

makes continuity of progression in learning hard to achieve and there is more we should be doing. Information about each child’s standards,

progress and needs should be passed effectively ... too often this is not done well enough.”

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Ofsted 2011

There has been overwhelming evidence from a series of inspections and reviews of the education of service children that high-quality transfer documentation is an important part of the process of moving schools. It can make a significant difference to the successful outcomes

for service children who move schools more frequently than most.

The Directorate of Children and Young People (DCYP), as well as headteachers and local authority staff, recognise the importance and significance of good, timely and appropriate information for families, children and their schools. However, due to the context and complexity of service mobility (frequency of moves, range of educational establishments, different legislative frameworks) it had not been possible to produce a single document that

takes into account this complex requirement. Therefore, the DCYP, in conjunction with North Yorkshire County Council, commissioned the development of a single service pupil’s record through funding from the Support Fund for Schools and a project officer was appointed to undertake the research and consultation necessary to develop a single record of a service child’s experiences.

Extensive research was undertaken during 2012-2013, involving school leaders in a diverse range of local authorities in England and Service Children’s Education (SCE) schools in Germany. Policy discussions have taken place with the Department for Education (DfE), representatives of Scottish and Welsh governments and representatives of headteacher groups and school boards in Northern Ireland. Service welfare organisations and family federations were also consulted. A questionnaire was sent to schools in England on the Service Children in State Schools (SCISS) database and returns represented over 103,524 children (10,000 service children) from 235 schools in 79 of England’s 150 local authorities.

The project has embraced service children, parents, schools, local authorities, government agencies and a range of military organisations, and schools have actively welcomed and supported the work to develop a single transfer document containing core information which is consistent for all pupils. The transfer document, the Pupil Information Profile (PIP), will be consistent for all pupils in any school setting, is available to support specific aspects of a pupil’s background and learning, and will signpost the recipient to the relevant source. It is intended to support continuous learning by identifying the

Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014 8

pupil’s current and future learning needs. It does not attempt to offer more than this core information, as the danger is that it would become unwieldy and not helpful to the receiving school.

The PIP covers the following core areas:

pupil profile information

behaviour for learning

next learning steps.

A copy can be accessed at the following link (DCYP website), including the guidance notes:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-information-profile-for-military-service-children

Use the PIP for all service children wherever they are attending an educational setting. One Hampshire school where this is used is The Wavell School.

The launch of the New Arrivals Ambassadors Mentoring Programme

On 21 November the New Arrivals

Ambassadors Peer Mentoring pack is being launched. Participants at the launch will learn about children who become vulnerable because of frequent moves between schools at non-traditional times. The scheme, which includes a comprehensive training pack, is focused on how skilled groups of pupils can support the transitions of those who have frequent moves and need additional support to settle in, such as service children. This training complements and supports rights, respect and

responsibility (RRR) in schools and leads to

improved outcomes, both personally and academically, for these groups of young people.

Schools will be encouraged to:

recruit and establish a group of mentors

train a group of mentors to be New Arrivals

Ambassadors

provide ongoing supervision to mentors

supporting others to:

feel part of the school as quickly as possible

find their feet academically

clarify, explain and interpret a whole range of school activities, systems and procedures

help students to develop empathy for others

from diverse backgrounds.

To find out more contact Anwen Foy:

E-mail: anwen.foy@hants.gov.uk.

Diversity Project Big Ideas Day

On 19 August the Hampshire Award Programme and Arts and Museums Service held a multi-discipline event at Runways End in Aldershot for 27 vulnerable young people in Hart and Rushmoor. The young people were referred from a range of partners, for a range of reasons, including:

being affected by homelessness

having English as a second language

being not in education, employment or

training (NEET)

or

having very low confidence.

They were also from either British or Nepali backgrounds and either civilian or military

9 Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014

families. The main emphasis for the day was integration.

The young people participated in varied activities throughout the day, rotating around the site in small groups in order to build relationships and confidence. The most popular activities were the leap of faith on the high ropes

and the bushcraft firelighting in the camp area. We ended the day with a shared meal around the campfire.

This event was the launch of the Diversity

Project, funded by the Ministry of Defense (MOD) Community Covenant.

Ongoing work includes a programme of regular activities and events in Hart and Rushmoor on Friday nights in the Autumn Term. The young people will take part in many more activities at the West End Centre, as well as attending various off-site trips such as snowboarding. By the end of term they will have achieved Bronze Arts Award, as well as gained confidence, cultural understanding and new friends.

For more information about this project contact:

E-mail: charlotte.slinger@hants.gov.uk Youth Arts Officer or

E-mail: trevor.macalonan@hants.gov.uk Team Co-ordinator, Apprenticeships.

HMS Heroes

HMS (Her Majesty’s School) Heroes is a unique, international pupil voice group supporting service children and young people. The group is for service children of our armed forces, veterans, the Reserve Forces and Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It is a tri-service network, bringing together members of service families from all over the country; over 100 schools are members. HMS Heroes is officially affiliated with the Royal British Legion.

HMS Heroes exists to raise the profile of service children and help to explain the unique challenges that go hand-in-hand with being a part of a military family. The aim is for school groups to support each other, organise events and activities, and engage in local community projects such as Armed Forces Day. HMS

Heroes this year will be attending the Remembrance Service with all six forces standards at the Royal Albert Hall on 8 November.

The group is not just for schools with high numbers of service children. Five schools in North Yorkshire joined together as one, known as the Hambleton Heroes, as there are only a few service children in each school. One Hambleton Hero explains: “I thought I was the

only child with a mum and dad in the army and felt really different. It was great to meet children like me.”

The network stretches across the globe too. One Mount Pleasant Hero from the Falklands said: “It feels like we are part of one big school together, even though we are miles apart”.

Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014 10

Sharing with others is the key to giving service children confidence to understand that they are not unusual, and that there are like-minded friends they can turn to for support, we have about 7,000 Heroes at the moment. The initiative goes far beyond peer support; HMS Heroes members act as ambassadors to provide insight into what it is like to be a service child – helping to bridge the gap between school staff, fellow pupils and the wider community.

Any school with service children can sign up to HMS Heroes. There is an annual fee of £120 involved in joining, which runs from April to March. Schools can join at any time though and are charged £10 per month up until March. Many schools use the Pupil Premium for this, a system Ofsted approves of.

For more information, go to www.hmsheroes.co.uk or e-mail Pete Ogburn or Hazel Thomson at hmsheroes@btinternet.com.

Contacts and queries

Glyn Wright – Hampshire County Inspector/Adviser for Personal Development Learning

E-mail: glynis.wright@hants.gov.uk Tel: 023 9244 1442

Ever 6 FSM and Ever 4 service children data

For queries on the data please e-mail Anne Powell (anne.powell@hants.gov.uk), Kevin Exley (kevin.exley@hants.gov.uk) or

the Data Quality and Collection Team (dqc.team@hants.gov.uk).

For queries on the allocations please e-mail the School Funding Team on: E-mail: school.fund@hants.gov.uk.

145 (South) Brigade, Firm Base Branch

E-mail: 145x-FirmBase-Groupmailbox@ mod.uk Tel: 01252 347755 www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence

Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) www.gov.uk/childrens-education-advisory-service Tel: 01980 618244

Army Welfare Service www.army.mod.uk/welfare-support/welfare-support.aspx

Navy Families Federation www.nff.org.uk/

Army Families Federation www.aff.org.uk

RAF Families Federation www.raf-ff.org.uk

HIVE www.gov.uk/army-hive-information-service

11 Supporting service children in Hampshire | Autumn 2014