On Thursday 26th June Pembrokeshire County Council held the first Service Pupil Promise event in Wales. The event brought together 60 Service children from different schools across Pembrokeshire to take part in this pupil voice initiative for Service children.
Prior to this main event, held at Wolfscastle Hotel, smaller school based workshops had been held at some schools in April. Information gathered during these initial workshops was used to support plans for the main event during which Service children had the opportunity to reflect on the impact of Service life, share their experiences and views, consider how their schools support and celebrate them whilst also identifying what more could be done to improve provision for Service children.
During the event students enjoyed a range of creative and reflective tasks. This culminated in the creation of individual school pledges e.g. “We promise to look out for each other while our parents look after our country.”
The event also gave the staff from schools (Service Children School Champions) the opportunity to network and share best practice.
A massive thank you to all staff from Pembrokeshire County Council; Kelly, Susie, Kay, Nadine and Bethany, as well as Ben from the Army Welfare Service for working alongside colleagues from SSCE Cymru (Becca, Yazz and Jo) to make this event happen and taking the lead in Wales. And of course a huge thank you to the Service children and school staff for taking part.
Next steps will be to use the Service pupil voice gathered to create 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.
SSCE Cymru hopes this will be the first of many Service Pupil Promise events across Wales. If you are interested in running a Service Pupil Promise event in your local authority, please get in touch; sscecymru@wlga.gov.uk
"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
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