Throughout the month of April, Ysgol Bae Baglan (Neath Port Talbot) have been busy celebrating Month of the Military Child with their primary and secondary phase children completing activities and competitions to celebrate themselves and their experiences.
Abby Challenger, Service Children School Champion at Ysgol Bae Baglan, shared:
"Our service children from Nursery- Year 11 have had the opportunity to enter an art competition where they produced a piece of artwork that displays their experiences of military life. A variety of fantastic artwork was produced which is displayed in the school for all to see.
The pupils were presented Easter egg rewards for their hard work in front of their peers which gave us opportunity to discuss MOTMC with non-service children in our school also.
Pupils and staff throughout our Primary and Secondary school have been provided with pin badges and stickers to celebrate MOTMC which have been worn with pride all month. We have displayed our MOTMC banner outside of the school to inform the wider community that we are celebrating MOTMC and to inspire others to do so also. In addition to this we have displayed our Armed Forces Friendly School zap stand in the reception of our upper school to remind visitors of our dedication to our Armed Forces families.
Our younger classes have enjoyed participating in Little Troopers colouring pages, whilst wearing their MOTMC stickers with pride. They have loved taking part in walks looking for dandelions and discussing how the flower represents the military child.
We have taken the opportunity to update parents and our wider school community with the work we are doing by adding images and updates to our school website throughout the month of April.
We then came together with other service children within the LA and participated in a fun day, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. Additionally, some of our YBB service children joined veterans in the Aberavon shopping Centre for a “street party” to celebrate VE Day. The pupils shared cards of appreciation they made for the veterans to thank them for their service."
Diolch/ Thank you for sharing these lovely photos with us Ysgol Bae Baglan. It looks like you've had a very busy month of celebrating and raising awareness of your Service children and their experiences.
"Being a military child is hard, but it also gets you a lot of new experiences that I wouldn't have experienced otherwise".
Esme-Jane
"For military children they [Mount Street Junior School] do a club called Little Troopers, they've done a Remembrance service, purple up day. We celebrate Holi and Dawali".
Arushi
"My Mum is my parent that is in the Armed Forces. She is a reservist. So when I was younger it was a lot worse, she travelled around a lot. I've lived in the same house my whole life, but she has moved around me. I was in a constant cycle of saying goodbye".
Emma
"My Dad, he's in the Army and he works in the Engineers and he goes away on week days and comes back on weekends"
Emily
"Dad often goes away. It is a bit worrying not knowing where your Dad is going. It does worry me and my sister. Yeah, you just never know when he's coming home".
Joe
"In June or July, my Dad is going away quite far. He's in the Army, he's a chef. Having your Dad gone is so sad."
Josie
"I've lived in many places. So, I was born in Cyprus, after that I've been to Germany, then I went to this place called Stafford. Then another place which is Wales."
Dominic
"I've moved seven times in fourteen years."
Lilia
"Now we've got a forever home. I never have to worry about leaving or how long until I am leaving. I feel like I belong here a lot more, that's always great."
Oliver
"As soon as we get used to a house, you get moved - I’ve been to four schools and moved six times."
Aiden
"I lived in Nepal, then we went to Brunei, then Malaysia."
Ashim
"In my eyes, you have hundreds of friends in different places."
Chloe
"I’m used to moving now and mixing with the children... I’ve done it so many times, it’s just a normal thing now."
Chloe
"It's ok talking over skype and that, but sometimes you just want a hug when Dad is away."
Georgia
"He signed off last week, so he will be done by the end of this year. He’s done 24 years. I find that better because he will be around a lot. He likes watching us playing rugby, so he will get to see us more."
Lewis
"I’ve enjoyed going around to lots of places around the world, it's adventurous and exciting."
Harry
"In my eyes, you have hundreds of friends in different places."
Ieuan
"My mum got a chalk board and it says how many sleeps on it with chalk, every minute it’s getting closer for him coming home."
Mia
"I don’t want him to get promoted... I want him to get promoted but I don’t want to leave."
Oliver
"I might be going to boarding school so that I don’t change schools every few years."
Ryan
"I've been to seven different schools; I’ve not stayed put in one school long enough."
Shana
"He has been away for six months and he is back for two weeks, then he goes away again."
Sianed
"My parents were in the Army. My mum is a like a nurse and my dad went to the war in Afghanistan. I actually didn’t really know what he was doing so I was like, ‘Cool Dad, go there,’ but then I found out and thought, 'Thank God he came back alive.'"
Sanjog
"I’m going to a new place entirely. They don’t know anything about me and that’s a big restart and that’s really good for me."
Piaras
"I moved to Wales because my dad was posted in the Army. I thought I would get bullied and I was shy when you meet new people, but I made some friends."
Dan
Welsh Local Government Association
One Canal Parade
Dumballs Road
Cardiff
CF10 5BF
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