Tystiolaeth SSCE Cymru

SSCE Cymru evidence

In 2019/20, SSCE Cymru conducted various activities to understand the needs of Service children and identify the most successful support they have received.

The views of schools, parents/carers and Service children have been instrumental in the development of the SSCE Cymru Toolkit and resources, as well as contributing evidence to make changes in policy and systems.

School survey

In 2019, SSCE Cymru invited all schools in Wales with Service children on roll to participate in a survey. The survey questions covered the following areas:

School information – e.g. number of Service children, language of school, location
Mobility data – the number of Service children joining and leaving the school
Challenges – Service children's challenges in education, and schools' challenges in supporting their Service children
Support – the support that schools offer to Service children, including mental health and wellbeing support, and how schools work together collaboratively
Funding – which funding schemes schools are accessing, and what this money is used for
Armed Forces community – how schools engage with the community
SSCE Cymru resources – to learn what schools would find beneficial in helping them to support their Service children
SSCE Cymru training – to identify the type of training schools would like, and for who.

Download the full survey findings analysis

Listening to our Service children

In 2019/20, SSCE Cymru ran a number of discussion groups with schools in Wales, to hear from Service children about their experiences of education in Wales.

These findings fed into the Year of the Service Child Voice project by the Service Children’s Progression Alliance (SCiP Alliance).

Download the project findings analysis

Parent/carer survey

In 2020, SSCE Cymru conducted a survey with parents/carers of Service children. This gave them the opportunity to share their experiences about living in/moving to Wales, the impact their lifestyles have on their children’s education, and the support they have received from schools.

Download the full survey findings analysis

Service children ALN report

Commissioned by SSCE Cymru and conducted by the University of South Wales and Arad Research, this research explores the challenges of identifying, assessing and implementing support for Service children with Additional Learning Needs (ALN) in Wales. It also examines the potential impact of the new ALN Code for Wales.

Alun Davies AM, Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services, officially launched the report at the SSCE Cymru conference in June 2018.

Key findings

“…the percentage of Service children (6.1%) being supported at School action level is considerably lower than the percentage of all pupils (11.17%) from across our sample. One explanation for this may be that the transient nature of this population may make it less likely for any initial differentiated learning approaches to be evaluated and, in turn, progressed onto support through School Action.”