SSCE Cymru Journal

The SSCE Cymru journal provides an overview of the activities and events that SSCE Cymru team members have been involved with.

Apr 25

Month of the Military Child 2025

During the month of April, we celebrated Month of the Military Child (MotMC), giving us a wonderful opportunity to recognise Service children and young people. It has been fantastic seeing schools, local authorities and SSCE Cymru network members across Wales take this opportunity to celebrate Service children, taking the time to express their appreciation for their unique lifestyle and thank them for their sacrifices. This years’ Month of the Military Child celebrations included activities such as awareness raising assemblies, Little Troopers virtual workshops, dandelion themed crafts and artwork, creative writing and songwriting sessions, Armed Forces themed physical activities, month of the military child banners and lots of purple for ‘Purple up’ day. What a fantastic month it was, SSCE Cymru would like to thank all schools, local authorities and network members across Wales who got involved through holding different activities and events to highlight and celebrate their Service children. Please visit our Month of the Military Child webpage for more lovely photos and details about how schools across Wales celebrated their Service children this year. If you would like us to add your school celebrations to this page, please email your photos and a brief description to SSCECymru@wlga.gov.uk. We look forward to celebrating Month of the Military Child 2026!

Apr 25

Cwm Brombil Service children celebration

Cwm Brombil (Neath Port Talbot)

Yasmin, School Liaison Officer, was invited to Ysgol Cwm Brombil’s celebrating Service children event for Month of the Military child. The day was filled with activities for Service children from Ysgol Cwm Brombil, Ysgol Bae Baglan, Cefn Seson and St. Joseph’s Primary School. The children had the opportunity to participate in various workshops which included bush craft, creating a dream catcher and pebble painting. The school also invited players from RAF rugby team to deliver a session for the Service children. It was fantastic to see all the Service children get stuck into the activities. Thank you so much to Mrs Stanton for organising such a brilliant day!

Apr 25

St Athan Primary School host a Forces Festival

St Athan Primary School (Vale of Glamorgan)

On 'purple up' day, the brilliant team at St Athan Primary School hosted a Forces Festival to celebrate Month of the Military Child 2025. They kindly invited the Service children from other schools in their cluster to come along and join the fun.

Apr 25

Pembrokeshire Service Pupil Promise Workshops

(Pembrokeshire)

On Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th April, to coincide with Month of the Military Child, the first Pembrokeshire Service Pupil Promise workshops took place. The Service Pupil Promise will be a commitment from the local authority to support children from Armed Forces families, ensuring the LA listen to their voices, and strengthen their commitment to the Covenant.

Apr 25

Jacob's Medals - Congratulations to Luke Woodhouse and Rylee Greest!

SSCE Cymru would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to all the incredible Service children and young people who were nominated for this year’s Celebrating Forces Families Awards, held on Friday, 25th April 2025. This year, the awards team collaborated with Jacob Mason, whose father serves in the Submarine Service, to launch the Jacob’s Medal. Every Service child or young person nominated for the Young People’s Award will receive a Jacob’s Medal in recognition of their personal achievements. We're proud to share that two of these medals were awarded to Service children living in Wales.

Apr 25

SCiP Alliance Hub Cymru Development event

(Cardiff)

On Thursday 10th April, in collaboration with the SCiP Alliance team, SSCE Cymru hosted an event in Cardiff which bought together over 50 key stakeholders, educators, policymakers, and community leaders to discuss and strategise on how best to support Service children and their families.

Apr 25

Celebrating the Month of the Military Child at Ysgol Golwg Pen Y Fan

Ysgol Golwg Pen y Fan (Powys)

On Friday 5th April, the charity Never Such Innocence returned to Wales to deliver a special creative workshop at Ysgol Golwg Pen Y Fan in celebration of the Month of the Military Child (MotMC). The session was led by Katie Salari and Clive Sanders from Never Such Innocence, joined by Jo, the SSCE Cymru Participation Lead Officer, who was delighted to take part in the day.

Mar 25

Prestatyn High School host a Never Such Innocence Month of the Military Child Poetry Workshop

Prestatyn High School (Denbighshire)

Nik Perring, a writer in residence with the charity Never Such Innocence visited Prestatyn High School in Denbighshire on Wednesday 12th March to lead a series of poetry workshops for 5 classes with high numbers of Service children and their peers. This event was kindly funded by the Naval Children's Charity, aimed to highlight and further promote the strong community connections the school already shares with the Armed Forces. With Nik's guidance the young people involved in the workshops produced some incredible poems that their Service Children School Champion is going to submit as part of the Never Such Innocence Poetry Competition. It was a wonderfully enjoyable day, and lovely to see the young people surprise themselves with their poetic flair and final piece! A big diolch/thank you to the Naval Children's Charity, Never Such Innocence, the school staff for organizing the event, and of course, the participating young people.

Feb 25

Willowtown Community Primary School host a Never Such Innocence Poetry Workshop

Willowtown Community Primary School (Blaenau Gwent)

Clive Sanders, a poet in residence with the charity Never Such Innocence met the SSCE Cymru, Participation Lead Officer, Jo at Willowtown Community Primary School on Monday 17th February to lead a series of poetry workshops for the year 5 and 6 Service children alongside their peers.

Service children’s quotes

"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

SSCE Cymru Journal