Service Pupil Support

We support our Service Children through a variety of strategies.  We have a team of Teachers and Teaching Assistants who are very experienced with working with service children. We offer a variety of additional Teacher and TA led academic and social/emotional provisions to support children with gaps in their learning. When a child's needs extend beyond class based support, we can offer individualised support plans for our students particularly at times of transition and deployment.  These support plans can involve assessing our Pastoral support team.

Our school the teacher who leads on Pupil Premium  is Mrs A-M Devereux.  If you would like to speak to Mrs Devereux, please contact the school office.

Service Pupil Community Link Workers

Mandy Milburn and Suzie Davies are the Service Pupil Community Link Workers for all Faringdon Learning Trust (FLT) schools.   These posts are funded through the Armed Forces Covenant fund Trust (AFCFT). Our aim is to provide you with direct pastoral and welfare support.

Service Pupil Premium (SPP)

The aim of SPP is to enable schools to offer additional support to help mitigate the negative impact on Service Children of family mobility or parental deployment. Some of the support needed by Service Children doesn’t require dedicated resource, but sensitivity, awareness and thoughtfulness on the part of staff.

More information regarding the Service Pupil Premium can be found at the following link:

Service Pupil Premium: what you need to know - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Details of how we use Service Pupil Premium can be found on our Pupil Premium page.

*Service Personnel with children (Reception to Y11) in State Schools in England should notify schools of their Children’s Service status to ensure they are recorded prior to the next Autumn Census (First Thursday in October) in order qualify for Service Pupil Premium.

Deployment Support

Deployment can cause disruption to family life and can be especially hard for children.  Our Teaching and Pastoral Teams will ensure that we make it as smooth and comfortable for the student as is possible and support their resilience during times of change.

The RAF Families Federation (RAFFF) together with Service Children in State Schools (SCISS) have created a downloadable Deployment Support flyer for families and schools.  In it you will find useful links and signposting to key resources and organisations offering support to help children from an Armed Forces background.

20230719-RAFFF-SCISS-deployment-resource.pdf (raf-ff.org.uk)

In order for us to best support your child/children during times of deployment, whether this be an operational tour of duty for several months, or a training course or exercise for a few weeks we ask that you complete the Deployment Form.

Deployment Form

Please find below the link to our Deployment Form.  Completion of this form will help the school support your child/children during times of Operational Deployment.   

Transition

Service Children face unique challenges during transitions due to their mobile lifestyle.  Challenges include gaps in learning, differences in curriculum, adapting to new environments and the potential stresses on the family associated with moving.  Furthermore, Service Children often transition at irregular times throughout the school year, adding stressors like learning new school layouts and assimilating into established social groups.

At Watchfield Primary School we understand the needs of our Service Children and strive to ensure every pupil has a positive transition experience through providing academic and emotional support.

For more information on our transition plan and the ways we help your children, please contact the school office.

April - Month of the Military child

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