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Thriving lives for Service children

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Children are heard

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Service children’s diverse voices are heard and inform the support they receive.

Thriving lives for Service children

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THE 7 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE SUPPORT

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Our approach is clear

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Achievement is maximised

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wellbeing is supported

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Transition is effective

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Parents are engaged

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Staff are well-informed

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Service children’s diverse voices are heard and

inform the support they receive.

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AFTER COMPLETING THIS PRESENTATION, EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS WILL :

Better understand why we listen to Service children

Have reviewed how schools can listen to Service children

Have a deeper understanding of how to respond

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THIS PRESENTATION:

Why listen to Service children?

How do schools listen to Service children?

How can schools be responsive?

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SECTION 1:

Why listen to Service children?

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Why listen to Service Children?

Why listen?

Diversity

Inclusivity

Transformation

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The SCiP Alliance’s ‘Listening to Learn’ report highlighted the responsibility upon adults to listen seriously with the genuine intent of improving and developing policy and professional practice.

Effective listening is important for 3 reasons:

DIVERSITY: It is essential to listen to and affirm the diversity of Service children’s experiences in order to avoid reducing Service children to a homogeneous group.
INCLUSIVITY: It would be unsatisfactory to consider Service children as a group that experiences specific disadvantages that need to be fixed. Rather, we should explore how the diverse strengths and qualities of Service children can be drawn upon in practice.
TRANSFORMATION: We must listen in order to transform practice and policy, in a way that views Service children as partners in improvement.

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A rationale for deliberately listening to Service children

‘Service children don’t want to feel different but they do want their circumstances to be understood.’

OfSTED (2011):‘Children in Service Families: The quality and impact of partnership provision for children in Service families’.

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Differentiated treatment is an area that that has often been explored with Service children themselves, with surprisingly consistent results. Creative Forces events, held by universities across the UK, consistently find that Service children want to be understood and recognised ... but not too much. The benefit of large-scale dedicated events like these is that, particularly in the secondary age group, students are wary of being singled out at school but appreciate the opportunity to explore their experiences with other Service children away from the school setting and to inform their schools.

Supportive schools have systems in place to ensure that Service children’s particular need to fit in, and the experiences many of them have of doing so repeatedly in new settings, does not leave them without sensitively designed differentiated support where needed.

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SHOULD SCHOOLS TREAT SERVICE CHILDREN ANY DIFFERENTLY TO OTHER PUPILS? �

‘Armed Forces children should not be treated in too much of a different way… just a bit.’

‘When parents are away we should be treated differently.’

‘Everyone counts you as a person who hasn’t got much problems and are just normal like everyone else when actually it’s a bit hard with moving and parents in military, with them getting posted further away and in danger. Not literally not normal – we’re different from the crowd.’

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‘Should schools treat Service children any differently to other pupils?’ is a question often asked by school staff working with Service children, especially when their Service children seem to be making good progress or are achieving at age-related expectations. In such cases, a question to consider is whether some slightly different treatment might lead to even better progress, or attaining BEYOND age-related expectations, particularly since Service children rarely meet the traditional ‘disadvantaged’ criteria.

At a large scale Service children’s conference held in North Yorkshire in 2012 involving over 70 pupils aged between 10 and 18, the over-riding conclusion to this question was ‘yes – sometimes’. Young people at similar events in Kent four years later and in Rutland in 2019 concurred, with the quotes shown on this slide being quite typical.

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SECTION 1:

How do schools listen to Service children?

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Embarking on a project which aims to undertake meaningful participation and engagement with children and young people is a process which takes sustained commitment in terms of time and resources… Sustained commitment is therefore vital and participation and engagement cannot be tokenistic.

The network of stakeholders that we work with contribute an unmeasurable amount of knowledge and support to the work we do, but our Service children want to have the opportunity to contribute directly to conversations that affect their future.

Royal Caledonian Education Trust

SSCE Cymru

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Principles of effective and impactful listening�

A blank page approach is best and let the children identify what they want to do activity wise then facilitate and support that to get greater interest and involvement.

University of Central Lancashire

Be deliberate
Be open
Be child-centred
Be willing to change

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TEEN TALKS – Royal Caledonian Education Trust

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SECTION 3:

How can schools be responsive?

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RESPONSIVE SCHOOLS

Feedback from pupils and their parents and carers is sought and used to shape support for Service children and their families: e.g.

School council representation or community engagement roles

Induction/exit surveys

Pupil voice groups

Sharing experiences with the school and local community through art and culture

Action embedded in leadership and policies

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The research underpinning the Thriving Lives toolkit for schools found strong practice in this area. For example, many schools capture the views of Armed Forces families by asking them to complete questionnaires about their experience of the school’s support, such as after a pupil has moved into the school community. Some use exit surveys when families leave, although this was less common. Successful schools consult and involve parents, children and the local Armed Forces community if appropriate when planning bids for targeted funding or the development of new provision. However, this is only valuable if senior leaders then use such feedback to improve their offer to Service families. All stressed the importance of mechanisms to ensure views expressed are acted on and new practice is developed and embedded as a result.

The most common way that schools provide responsive support is through direct pupil voice. Some ensure that there is Service child representation on school councils; others use Service children to be ambassadors for their schools and to support new arrivals. Most commonly of all, peer buddy systems are used to support mobile students and inform the planning of support such as welcome packs.

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A NATIONAL NETWORK FOR RESPONSIVE SCHOOLS

MKC Heroes is a unique, national pupil voice group formed in the City of Plymouth for the support of Service children and young people. This group works, actively, in harmony, to ensure that every member has a voice and is able to use it for the benefit of all. Members of MKC Heroes ambassadors and young advocates for Service and veterans’ families. Most importantly, they are friends for each other, especially in times of need.

With thanks to MKC Heroes

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One effective practice is for the school to be part of national networks such as the Military Kids Club Heroes network, which helps schools listen and respond to their Service children. Its over 9,000 members are active both in their own schools and in local and national community and policy forums.

[read by a child if possible]

Military Kids’ Club Heroes is a young people’s voice group; the young people are in charge of their own club, supported by adults. They represent all Service and Veterans’ children and have a website, a uniform and a network that keeps them in touch and ensures they can get help, if they need it.

MKC heroes members have opportunities to meet and inform policy-makers, regional coordinators and their school leadership. MKC Heroes ambassadors in Plymouth sit on the Armed Forces Community Covenant steering group and participate in debate and decision-making. They meet their MPs every year and challenge them to support Service children. Plymouth Ambassadors also reach out across the city, for example encouraging primary schools to have MKC Hero worry boxes so that they can collect and act on members’ concerns and ideas.

Plymouth and North Yorkshire have Military Kids Choirs who perform publically at special events such as remembrance day services.

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SUMMARY

The voice and experience of Service families needs to be at the heart of a school’s support and interactions with them as part of its duty to uphold the Armed Forces Covenant

Successful schools access opportunities for their Service children to be heard, to reflect together and to make a difference

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WITH THANKS TO:

Ceri Cusack, Armed Forces wife and mother / teacher
Heather Ogburn and Jono Madeley, Education Advisers, Plymouth City Council
Matt Blyton,Senior Education Adviser, North Yorkshire County Council
Millie Taylor, Programme Manager, SSCE Cymru
Moira Leslie, Education Manager, Royal Caledonian Education Trust

This module has been developed by the Service Children’s Progression Alliance with help from…

Funded by…

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