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SSCE Cymru journal

Willowtown Community Primary School host a Never Such Innocence Poetry Workshop

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Willowtown Community Primary School host a Never Such Innocence Poetry Workshop

February 2025

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. 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.

Never Such Innocence  is a fantastic charity that runs creative competitions throughout the year. The most recent competition focused on the theme "How can we prevent future conflict?"—a tricky subject, especially in light of recent world events. However, the children at Willowtown rose to the challenge. With Clive's gentle guidance and armed with a "poetry pencil," they produced some incredible work. It was a wonderfully enjoyable day, and some children even surprised themselves with their poetic flair!

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 children. You were amazing! Clive and Jo were warmly welcomed at Willowtown, where they had the privilege of meeting their Service children, who happily shared their experiences.

The closing date for entries to the Never Such Innocence competition is the 7th March. It would be fantastic to see some entries from Wales. So pick up a 'poetry pencil' and get creating...who knows, you might even be the next Clive Sanders! 

 

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Service children’s quotes

"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

"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

"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’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