scsn newsletter march 11
TRANSCRIPT
SCSNQuarter ly Newsletter : Spr ing 2011
Welcome to the first of the SCSN Quarterly Newsletters which includes articles from anumber of our erstwhile members. We hope you find it interesting and will considercontributing something for the next issue. Let us know what’s going on in your area!
Shar ing best pract ice to support Serv ice Chi ldren
Service Children Support Network
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Seer Green School Pupilsduring their recent visit tothe Chiltern WoodlandBurial Park.
On a freezing cold Novembermorning, a class from Seer GreenPrimary School, Buckinghamshire,arrived at the Chiltern WoodlandBurial Park, full of chatter andcuriousity. “I wasn’t sure if the tripwas going to be good because itwas a burial park and I wasn’t surewhat we would do”.
They were the first school to carryout the Child Bereavement Charityvisit to the Burial Park based on theCBC lesson plan. Accompanied bytheir teacher, Michael Cole-Johnson, and headteacher OlwynDavidson-Oakley, the children werefirst taken to the beautiful GatheringHall. Despite being distracted bythe birds and squirrels they couldsee through the floor to ceilingwindows, the children werewarmly welcomed by Peter Taylorand Fran Hall who briefly explainedabout the Burial Park and itspurpose. As the children hadalready discovered, Fran pointedout that the Park is a haven forwildlife and a beautiful, peacefulplace.
Using the song “The Circle of Life”as his theme, Peter told the story ofthe Hungry Caterpillar.Accompanied by much laughter,he got two of the children topretend that they were caterpillarsand to then transform intobutterflies. Peter built on the themeby pointing out to the children thatthe Circle of Life involves change,and that change can sometimesbe difficult, especially when a petor someone we know dies. He thenspoke about how different peoplebelieve different things about what
happens when someone dies.“Now I know that all my relativesand pets are in a good place.”
Everyone who wanted to, thenshared memories or thoughtsabout people or pets who had diedand Fran Hall, manager of the site,reminded us all that love nevergoes away, even when that personis no longer around. The childrenthen split into groups and did thenature hunt. “I enjoyed doing thenature trail the most and I found itinteresting and fun”. As part of thatthey also visited the Peace Poleand the Remembrance Day Post.Favourite was the labyrinth. “Reallyliked the labyrinth – it was a reallygood idea” Fran told the childrenthat a maze is where you get lost, alabyrinth is where you find yourself.Before entering, the children pickedup a stone, thought of a worry, andhaving worked their way aroundthe turning and twisting path, lefttheir worry or whatever wasbothering them, with their stone atthe centre of the labyrinth. “It wasreally cool during the day becausethey dealt with something adultsdon’t like to talk about and I’dnever been talked to about deathbefore”.
The lesson plan andaccompanying information forteachers can be found in theschools section of the CBC web,www.childbereavement.org.uk.
To organise a school visit to theChiltern Woodland Burial Parkcontact Fran Hall,[email protected] orTel: 01494 872158.
To book a place
Contact Joy O’Neill at :
[email protected] 1 May 11.
‘Gone but Not Forgot ten ’ - by J i l l Adams, CBCForthcoming Events
May Seminar24 may 11 - The DefenceAcademy, Shrivenham.
Professor William Yule –Emeritus Professor ofApplied Child PsychologyKings College London,Consultant ClinicalPsychologist, FoundingDirector of Child TraumaticStress Clinic, HonoraryPsychologist Advisor to theBritish Army will bespeaking on the subjectof:
‘PTSD and Mental Healthissues in the Military, theimpact on families andhow educational andwelfare professionals cansupport Service Children’.
The Gallery
I served as an Infantry Officer in both the RegularArmy and the Territorial Army after University, whereI read Classics in the middle 1960s. After leavingthe Army I worked as an Emergency PlanningOfficer in various District and Boroughs and latterlyfor some 16 years as the County EmergencyPlanning Officer for Oxfordshire dealing with naturaland man-made major incidents, in particular thefloods of July 2007. I was awarded an MBE in the2008 New Year’s Honours list for “Services to LocalGovernment.”
During my time at Oxfordshire CC, I liaised with theArmed Services on welfare and ceremonial mattersran a number of Civic events for the LordLieutenant such as World War commemorationsand the Queen’s Jubilee Baton Run, which endedin Oxford United Stadium. I am still called upon togive expert comment by the media on majorincidents in the absence of comment from theauthorities and to provide a critical view of somefailings in major incident management. Inretirement, I divide my time between walking thedogs, house-keeping duties and SSAFA- ForcesHelp work. SSAFA is a service charity which hasjust celebrated its 125th anniversary, culminating inOxford with a Lord Mayor’s reception and a carolconcert in Christ Church cathedral to raise funds.Locally we have started using the shortened formfor the charity – Forces Help, as that explains ourrole more easily, particularly over the telephone.
Our main role is to act as case workers for largeService charities such as the Royal British legion,The Navy, Army and Royal Air Force BenevolentFunds and Regimental and Corps charities, whichare spread across the country. We almonise fundsfrom Service and civilian charities for anything fromchild care to stair lifts and funeral grants thoughfurniture buying to arranging housing bonds for
deposits on rented housing. Our guiding rule forSSAFA help is, “One day’s service, a lifetime ofcare.” Only if all else fails do we use SSAFA moneyin very urgent cases such as the housing of an ex-commonwealth soldier on 23 December, after hehad been living on the streets.
All SSAFA care workers are volunteers and as theDivisional Secretary for the Vale of White Horse, Iallocate jobs to my case workers almost on a dailybasis, having volunteered originally for a day’svoluntary work per week! We now deal with thesecases on an electronic Case Management System(CMS), which means that I have sent off anassistance request at 5 pm one evening andreceived an offer of some £750 by 9 am thefollowing morning. The CMS system captures ourstatistics, when I can understand it, and providesthe annual returns to SSAFA Central Office at yearend. I have known about SSAFA all my life, as Icome from a Service family and can well rememberthe embarrassment, when my parents arranged forSSAFA ladies to escort me across London from myboarding school as an 11 year old to their postingin Germany in the late 1950s. Since then, I haveseen uniformed SSAFA personnel helping youngservicemen and women on bases and helping thefamilies when the troops are on operations.
My wife is surprised at my role, as I have neverbeen renowned for my patience with bureaucracybut it is satisfying to obtain money for a funeral fora destitute wife or provide the train fare for an ex-soldier wishing to visit his estranged family. Sadlywe do not see our work diminishing with the age ofWorld War Two veterans and those from moredistant campaigns. The ongoing fashionable warswill provide work for SSAFA and the other ServiceCharities for many years to come.
John Kelly MBE BA MBA SSAFA DivisionalSecretary Vale of White Horse, Oxford.
01865 765146/07766 713369
These are the views of an individual and do notnecessarily reflect the views of my Charity.
‘A l i fe- long l ink wi th SSAFA’ -by John Kel ly
For your Diary .....Next SCSN Meeting
The next SCSN meeting will take place from 1300-1500 on Wed 28 September 2011 at RAF BrizeNorton, Oxfordshire.
Further details will be sent out to members in duecourse.
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SCSN Member Profile
Name: Wendy Scott
Employment: Abingdon HIVE
So what’s your job?
As the HIVE Information Support Officer at Dalton Barracks in Abingdon, I am themain focal point for the Military community. My role is to ensure Serving Personneland their Dependants are aware of the latest information on the Unit, and fromoutside agencies.
What does that entail?
I act as a Confidential Signpost and referral point to other organisations. I providesupport and information for both Serving Personnel and families on their arrival atAbingdon and on their departure to their next unit,. This is the main part of my role.I provide information about local schools, SEN provision in the area and also haveaccess to a lot of useful information about Boarding Schools.
What does that mean day to day?
I Support the Unit during deployments by providing deployment packs for both theperson who is deploying and their Families. I attend and present at deploymentbriefs. Any issues, such as Housing, Schooling, Health, or Financial problems thatare presented to the HIVE staff are reported through the chain of command asexamples of the kinds of issues that Service families face to both military and civilianorganisations.
What other agencies do you work with?
I attend relevant meetings, such as SCSN, to gather information or publicise thework of HIVE. I work locally with Education Extended Services, theOxfordshire PCT, Oxfordshire Family Information Services andSurestart, as well as the local Citizens Advice Centre. I maintaindaily contact with all three Regiments based at DaltonBarracks as well as the 7 Rifles TA Unit, to ensure up-to-dateinformation is available to Service personnel and theirfamilies throughout the Dalton Barracks area.
The Gallery
The ‘Pupil Premium’ – Additional GovernmentFunding for Service Childrens’ Education
For many years, Service parents have expressedconcern that their children may be disadvantagedbecause, unlike their fellow pupils from non-Servicefamilies, they face frequent relocation due topostings (‘transition’ to new schools) and also sufferthe unique pressures of parental OperationalDeployments. Research supports these concernsand suggests that children who are suffering fromstress are less likely to be able to learn effectivelyand may also display challenging behaviour orother emotional upset.
The Situation around the Country
Many Service families have commented that they
feel that across the majority of the Country, thecomplexities of Service life are not wellunderstood within the wider community and thespecific needs of Service children are oftenoverlooked as a result. I know from personalexperience that although some schools and LocalAuthorities are actually very aware of the issuesfacing Service families and put additional timeand money into offering the best support theycan for Service children, there are a significantnumber of others who do not, either becauseThey are unaware of the Service childrenpopulation in their midst or worse, are unsupportiveof their specific needs. Indeed, the picture acrossthe Country is quite polarised with some LocalAuthorities offering specific additional financial orPractical support to Service pupils , while othersappear to be either unable or unwilling to doso, often citing financial constraints as thereason for not doing so.
The Coalition Government has decided to introducea ‘Pupil Premium for Service Children’ from 2011.
Under the initiative, additional funds are allocated toschools that have Service children on the SchoolRoll (on a per capita basis) and it is intended thatthe money will be used to specifically provide extrasupport for all Service pupils.
How can you help ensure that the children inyour school receive the best supportpossible?
Many Service parents are perhaps understandablyconcerned that, at this time of significant financialpressure, the money allocated specifically for theirchildren may simply be absorbed into a widerschool budget rather than being used to directlysupport Service pupils as intended. To ensure thisdoesn’t happen, it is in the interest of all Serviceparents to engage with and work alongside theirchild’s school in order to have a say in how theseadditional funds will be spent.
Some schools have introduced additional stafftraining (including bereavement training) to increaseawareness of the pressures of parental deploymenton their pupils. Others have employed additionalstaff who have responsibility for providing extratuition for pupils who have gaps in their academicknowledge arising from frequent school moves.The provision of additional counselling for Servicepupils has also been shown to offer effectivesolutions to the emotional or behavioural issuesthat may arise from Service life. A handful ofschools have employed a ‘Family Support Worker’or ‘Mobility Co-ordinator’, a person whose roleincorporates all the initiatives described above andalso supports families and pupils throughdeployment and transitions.
It is clear that the number of Service pupils within aschool will determine the amount of additionalmoney allocated to it. Schools which have verysmall numbers of Service pupils will obviouslyreceive less money than one that has a largerpopulation of them. However, this should notnecessarily prevent them from achieving goodresults as it has been proven that by working withother schools in the local area that also haveService pupils, it is possible to pool resources andput in place initiatives that provide genuinelyeffective support yet also offer great value formoney! For example, a Family Support Workercould be employed to support the Service pupilswithin a group of Schools that share the costsbetween them.
For more information or ideas please contact
Joy O’Neill.
‘The Pupi l Premium’-by Joy O’Nei l l
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‘Through the eyes of a RAF Child’by Emma, Year 11, John ColetSchool, Wendover.
MCEC is the U S based non-profit organisationformed to provide advice and assistance with allaspects of educational and family support incollaboration with the Armed Forces of the USA.
Being invited to the MCEC symposium hosted atthe ARRC Joint Visits Bureau raised much curiositywithin me. The chance to see at first hand theheadquarters of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corpswas simply too good to miss. The venue and theorganisation behind the scenes was first class, andthanks to Brigadier Allison and his team, thewelcome received by all delegates was warmindeed.
What of the conference itself?As the first sessiongot under way it became increasingly clear theMCEC plays a huge and vital role in supportingpupils and families connected to the US Military.
MCEC figures relate that 2 million military pupilshave schooling throughout the world, and that onemillion have been, or are currently, separated fromone or both parents due to deployment.
Recognising the implication of this deploymentmeant that for many families a “New Normal”needed to be coped with became the centraltheme of the conference.
Sessions thoroughly explored the theme of NewNormal with professionalism and enthusiasm.
Introducing the 7 Cs of Resilience (competence,confidence, connection, character, contribution,coping and control) gave the session leaders aframework based on research by Dr K. R. Ginsburg.
This framework will prove to be particularly valuablefor professionals and families alike. It can provide ashared vocabulary with which to address the issuesand feelings aroused by deployment, and toaddress the notion that families might be betterable to take ownership for themselves. Hopefully allconcerned will feel more confident in helping ourpupils who can be especially vulnerable at times ofstress.
Leaving the conference with an MCEC baggenerously filled with books, pamphlets and othermaterials, I reflect on the ever continuing need tosupport our soldiers, families and schools in thistime of high levels of deployment, and how we canplay a part in giving such support.
By Alex Bostock
Clarendon Junior School, Tidworth, Wiltshire
‘The Mi l i tary Chi ld Educat ion Coal i t ion(MCEC) Conference’ - by Alex Bostock
The Gallery
My name is Sue Wellington and I have lived in thebeautiful village of Wendover for almost 12 yearswith my husband Lester, who is a retiredMetropolitan Police Officer and now runs this ownkarate schools throughout Buckinghamshire. Ihave a daughter Grace who is 14 and is currentlyin Year 10 at the John Colet School in Wendover.My son Christopher who is 20 is doing a degree inActing at Drama Centre London.
I started working at Wendover CE Junior School 11years ago as a teaching assistant workingthroughout the school with children with SpecialEducational Needs. I was employed for 15 hoursper week and my first month’s salary was£150! Back then I was the only teaching assistantworking at the school, apart from the schoolswelfare assistant. Gradually the school employedmore teaching assistants and today we have 22!
The SENCo, who had been at the school for 17years, decided to move on and the head teacherasked if I’d take over her role as none of theteachers at the time felt able to take it on. I agreedto give it a go. 5 years and a few grey hairslater I’m still doing the job, although now under thenew title of ‘SEND Manager’. (SENDCo’s are nowrequired to have QTS status). I love my job, it is sovaried and interesting and I feel privileged to havebeen given such a great opportunity and I have gotto know so many wonderful people.
When my son joined the school when he was 7 Ibecame a member of the PTA. From 2000-2006 Iserved as a staff governor which really helped meinitially in my role as SENDCo as I was alreadyfamiliar with policy, the SDP etc. I have beeninvolved in many initiatives over the years including'Workforce Reform' and the launch of 'SEAL' (Socialand Emotional Aspects of Learning) inWendover/Halton which included running aparenting course in partnership with St. MarysChurch in Wendover. The role is constantlychanging and evolving as schools are now moreinvolved in early intervention programmes includingworking with families to improve long termoutcomes. I often feel scared and out of my depthwith the various ‘hats’ and constant demandshowever one thing I’ve learned over the past 5years is it doesn’t matter what your ‘position’ is, it’show you do what you do. Even if you can’t doeverything, it shouldn’t stop you doing somethingwhich might make a difference.
By Sue Wellington
All of us find moving a challenge but what if wehad to move every 3 years, or even every year?That is just what many Service children have to dowith consequences for their learning, social andemotional development. This is not to say thatmoving is always a negative experience, manyService children benefit greatly from the opportunityto make new friends and see new places. However,all of us find that that upon arrival in an unfamiliarenvironment we need to adapt to new routines,people and situations.
The Educational Psychology Service in partnershipwith the Transfer Support Team and Halton Schoolhave developed the ‘Passport’ to help pupils adaptto their new school. The ‘Passport’ is a collection ofresources and activities to help pupils acquire theknowledge, skills and understanding they will needto get off to a flying start. It includes 6 sectionsfocused upon welcoming the pupil to the newschool, the people they will meet, and importantinformation they will need. The ‘Passport’ isintended to build up into a personal record of thepupil’s time at the school which can then be takento the next school promoting a sense of continuityfor these highly mobile children.
By Robert Beadel
Chartered Educational PsychologistEducational Psychology ServiceBuckinghamshire County Council
‘Wel fare in Wendover ’by Sue Wel l ington
‘A New Resource forSupport ing Serv ice Chi ldren ’by Robert Beadel
contactsFor more information please contact
SCSN
By telephone on: 01296 625779
By e-mail at:
Or visit our website:
www.servicechildrensupportnetwork.com
The Summer Issue will be releasedin June 2011 and will contain areport from the May Seminar.
An Appeal from the Editor... thesenewsletters will only be asinformative and interesting as thearticles it contains so pleaseconsider submitting something forpublication. It doesn’t have to be amasterpiece of prose, just be ofinterest to your fellow members! Itmight describe a particular event youhave organised or attended, it mightdescribe work that you have carriedout or an issue that you wish to bringto wider attention. We are alsopleased to receive examples of workfrom the Service children in yourarea, a drawing or piece of poetryrelated to their lives perhaps. Pleasesubmit articles in word format(together with any pictures you wantto use) to The Chair.
Editorial Note:The views expressed by thecontributors to this newsletter are notnecessarily those of the Editor,SCSN, the MOD or any otherorganisation. All precautions aretaken to ensure accuracy.
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