Service Families

Welcome to Naphill and Walters Ash School.

Situated next door to RAF High Wycombe’s 3 site, around a third of the pupils at our school are from a Service family.  In this section you can find a welcome letter from our Family Liaison Officer plus copies of our termly Service Families Newsletter which may be of interest.  There are also links to Service education websites and the HIVE which provide further information for Service families.

Service Pupil Premium

The Department for Education introduced the Service Pupil Premium in April 2011, in recognition of the specific challenges faced by children from service families.

Service Pupil Premium is received by schools which have children from services families in school years Reception to Year 11.  Service Pupil Premium is currently £340 per service child who meets the eligibility criteria.

At Naphill and Walters Ash School, Service Pupil Premium is used to provide pastoral support in the form of a Family Liaison Officer and a Behaviour Support Assistant.  All children who join or leave the school at any point other than the usual exit and entry points of Year R and 6, receive support to aid settling into our school and again when transitioning to a new school.  Additionally, service children with a parent on deployment are given the opportunity to send e-mails to the deployed parent during the school day.  We are able to signpost parents to outside support when required and provide a termly newsletter with useful information for families.  Pastoral support is also available for behaviour, friendships and bereavement if needed.

Service Pupil Premium has also been used to provide teaching assistant support for service pupils with additional needs.

Moving from or to Scotland?

The MOD’s Directorate Children & Young People (DCYP) have developed resources to assist Service families with moves into and from the Scottish education system:

• https://forceschildrenseducation.org.uk/  has been developed in partnership with the Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES).
• A guide about Scottish Education written for parents by the MOD’s Children’s Education Advisory Service. For more information see: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/forces-childrens-education 
  

DCYP also fund a National transitions officer for Scotland, who is based with ADES and the Royal Caledonian Education Trust. Her role is specifically focusing on improving transitions both into and out of the Scottish Education System. In addition DCYP have a Parent Support Officer for Scotland who is employed directly to support Service families in Scotland.  Any enquiries should be addressed to DCYP-DCYP-MAILBOX@mod.gov.uk

Useful Links

www.raf.mod.uk/community/support/raf-hive-information-service has lots of information for our Service families.  The HIVE at RAF High Wycombe is located on 3 site, on the left hand side before you enter the main gate.

The Directorate Children and Young People (DCYP) was established in 2010 to provide a single Ministry of Defence (MOD) focus for all issues related to service children and young people.

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/directorate-children-and-young-people

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all children with parents serving in the British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. They provide fundamental resources, initiatives and events to ease and aid repeated separation periods aiming to keep parent and child connected and bonded even when miles apart. They provide a consistent support approach to service children regardless of their parents’ service, rank, regular / reserve forces, marital status – all their support is accessible wherever in the world families are based or choose to live.

Little Troopers’ Website

The Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) provides expert and impartial advice about the education of service children.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childrens-education-advisory-service