We love to share how schools use our resources, read on to find out how Westbury Leigh Primary School is supporting its Little Troopers.
Spotlight on – Westbury Leigh C of E Primary School
Fostering a sense of belonging
Jodie Greening is the lead Advocate for Service Children at Westbury Leigh C of E Primary School in Wiltshire. Jodie spoke to us about how the school is helping to foster a sense of belonging with their service pupils. She believes all schools should provide dedicated support for military children.
“My Dad was in the RAF and my husband served in the Army. I understand first-hand what it’s like to grow-up with a parent serving in the forces.
“At Westbury Leigh C of E Primary School, we currently have just eleven service children on roll. It’s less than 5% of the school population – but every child counts. It’s important these children feel recognised and supported.
“All the service children have been given a Westbury Leigh Troopers badge, which they can wear every day if they want to. We also regularly bring these children together to connect and spend time with each other.
Military Child Wellbeing
“We’ve recently been using the Little Troopers Military Child Wellbeing Course template with the group. Not every session is relevant to our children, as not many of them have parents deployed, but the sections on ‘Belonging’ and ‘Identity’ have been particularly helpful. Many of the children have been to multiple schools and moved around the country during their childhood. They don’t always have a sense of belonging to one place. We’ve also got quite a few children who are living unaccompanied from their serving parent, which they are finding challenging.
“The Little Troopers course materials have given us tangible resources to help these children explore the themes of belonging and identity as a forces child in the safety of our small and inclusive group. They’ve loved having the opportunity to share their stories about where they have lived and their memories of different places. They have also loved talking about where their parents have travelled to and served.
“We’ve also been reading the Little Troopers storybooks, which all feature characters who are military children. It’s great that these are tri-service. This has opened up discussions between our children (who are mostly from Army families). It has helped them to learn more about the other services. We also always order our children a copy of the Little Troopers Gazette. All the articles are written by military children. it’s given our children an added sense of belonging and made them feel proud to be little troopers.
Involving the whole school
“To be as inclusive as possible, we also think it’s important for civilian children to understand more about what life is like for their service friends. During April the Month of the Military Child we invited every child from across the school to come in wearing purple on ‘purple up’ day and we ran a photo competition which was judged by our Westbury Leigh Troopers. Our Westbury Leigh Troopers planned and hosted an assembly. They shared their stories with their peers and it was a big success with both sets of children thoroughly engaged.
“My favourite thing about the Westbury Leigh Troopers is seeing how the children connect across year groups. KS2 children interact with and support early years and KS1 children. It’s wonderful to see and has helped children make new friends across year groups.
“My advice to other schools is, it really doesn’t matter how many service children you have, there are simple and cost-effective ways to support them and involve their civilian peers in the process. Simply listening and giving service children the chance to share their unique stories can have a hugely positive impact. It supports their wellbeing and fosters a sense of belonging and recognition in school.”
