This week, our military children met in their year groups to talk about their experiences of being a Military Child. Questions asked (and an overview of some of the answers given) during this discussion groups included:

Have you ever moved home? How did you feel about moving home? What did you like? What did you dislike? Like the adventure of getting to see different parts of the world, disliked having to make new friends each time and leave old friends behind.

How did you feel when your parent/s were deployed? Sad, worried, concerned about what could happen, worried they would change in the time they were gone.

What activities have helped you when your parent/s have been deployed/living away? Playing videogames, football, sending voice messages to deployed parent, using memory bears/books.

What activities have helped you when moving schools? Who helped you when moving schools? Transition books, finding out information before starting, knowing if there were any other military children in the school.

How do you feel about living in Wales? What do you like? What don’t you dislike? Not looking forward to the rainy weather, will I get treated differently?

How do you feel about learning Welsh? Nervous

What positive experiences do you have as a Service child? Travel a lot of places, build resilience, get to meet new people, sometimes get to live on a camp.

How could you share details of these positive experiences with other children? Blogs, vlogs, youtube channel, 

What are the challenges you face being a Service child? Who helps you to overcome these challenges? Having to make new friends, gets harder with age as you understand it more, missing parents.

What could be improved to help you overcome these challenges? Support group in school for children of deployed parents.

 What information would you share with new Military Children joining school? Map of school, pictures of Little Troopers and Military associated adults, who to go to if you need help.

Who would you go to for advice and support? How can we share this with others? Miss Parker, Mrs Chiplin, Mrs Haynes. QR codes around school, pictures of military child wall display.

 

As you can see, we spoke about a lot of things that make us unique and realised that we had a lot more in common. We also came up with a few ideas on how to make life at school easier for military children, especially during transitional periods and deployment. Watch this space!