Welsh Governments definition of a Service child:
A ‘Service child’ has parent(s) or person(s) exercising parental responsibility who is/are Service personnel serving:
SSCE Cymru also encourages schools to consider identifying children and young people who don’t fit within the above definition but have a link to the Armed Forces.
Challenges schools face in supporting Service children: 58% Identifying Service children.
Support systems that would be beneficial to Service child(ren): 61% Identifying Service children during the admission process.
I’ve enjoyed going around to lots of places around the world, its adventurous and exciting.
SSCE Cymru worked with all 22 local authorities and independent schools in Wales to conduct a data collection activity on Service children. This provided a snapshot of the number and location of Service children in Wales.
Click on the name of a local authority to see the data.
Local authority (LA) | Number of schools in LA | Schools with SC | Number of SC |
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council | 30 | 4 | 11 |
Bridgend County Borough Council | 61 | 41 | 156 |
Caerphilly County Borough Council | 86 | 21 | 75 |
Cardiff Council | 132 | 11 | 36 |
Carmarthenshire County Council | 113 | 30 | 96 |
Ceredigion County Council | 46 | 12 | 33 |
Conwy County Borough Council | 61 | 16 | 86 |
Denbighshire County Council | 60 | 19 | 41 |
Flintshire County Council | 85 | 7 | 49 |
Gwynedd County Council | 99 | 5 | 22 |
Isle of Anglesey County Council | 49 | 10 | 90 |
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council | 29 | 8 | 57 |
Monmouthshire County Council | 37 | 17 | 91 |
Neath Port Talbot Council | 64 | 19 | 57 |
Newport City Council | 57 | 30 | 132 |
Pembrokeshire County Council | 68 | 23 | 207 |
Powys County Council | 94 | 39 | 245 |
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council | 115 | 27 | 120 |
Swansea Council | 100 | 26 | 69 |
Torfaen County Borough Council | 33 | 21 | 47 |
Vale of Glamorgan Council | 57 | 38 | 289 |
Wrexham County Borough Council | 73 | 10 | 19 |
1549 | 434 | 2028 |
* table data correct as of March 2025
Help us to gather data on the number and location of Service children in Wales, to ensure schools gain the best possible support for Service children.
Schools can utilise the following template: 4. Templates: Data Collection on the SSCE Cymru Tools section of our website.
Please note by completing this form you will be added to the SSCE Cymru network. SSCE Cymru will share details of any upcoming events, funding, the School Bulletin, resources and support available from the SSCE Cymru team.
Commissioned by SSCE Cymru and conducted by the Data Unit Wales, this report involved interviews with schools from across Wales and found that there was very little data on Service children available, indicating a need for more information and guidance to enable schools to collect data and access support.
What the report did identify, based on the most recent census data (2011), is that there are Service families with children up to the age of 16 across all 22 local authorities in Wales. The 2011 census data indicates that there are a minimum of 2,486 children in Wales where the HRP (household reference person) indicated that he or she was in the Armed Forces. This does not include information where the non-HRP(s) is/are in the Armed Forces, or information on veterans or Reservists, or where families with Service children do not live at the same address.
"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
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