Teachers

I have been the Headteacher at Marlborough Infant School in Aldershot for the past 6 years, and was previously the wife of a serving RAF Officer with 2 children. I have therefore experience of 'Mobility' from both sides of the fence.
The issues raised through mobility are many and complex at pupil, parent, school and teacher levels. For children, the social and emotional issues vary considerably; some appear to cope and show little sign of trauma when leaving or joining the school, whilst others are noticeably affected. Interestingly, it is not just the children who leave the school who show signs of distress, often it is the friends who are left behind who have lost someone they really care for. Preparing and supporting children through this delicate period is therefore essential and time consuming if pupils are to be able to enjoy and achieve. For children with Special Educational Needs this is particularly the case.
It never ceases to amaze me, the number of children with SEN who appear to have 'lost' their SENs en route from their previous school, only after a call to their last school to confirm our initial assessments does the level of support previously given to a child become clear. This is an area where improved school to school liaison would enable us to prepare for needy newcomers more quickly.
At curriculum level, teachers frequently comment on the different experiences and approaches to learning that children bring with them from previous schools. Particularly for children arriving from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the lack of ability to work independently and make their own decisions is a frequent concern when adjusting to the demands of the National Curriculum.
Providing stability of teaching and support staff for mobile children is, I believe, a significant factor in providing a secure and balanced platform for learning. This feature was identified as an outstanding strength in our school's recent successful OFSTED inspection.
In conclusion, leading a school with 98% of its pupils coming from service backgrounds is highly rewarding, never dull, mutually beneficial and always great fun.
These children are delightful with a wealth of experiences to share!
I never stop learning from them.

Having been a head teacher in SCE for three years following 3 headships and an advisory post in UK, I can confidently state that the quality of education in our schools is of a high standard, confirmed by inspection outcomes. Having managed a fully delegated budget in the UK for over 15 years it was difficult to adjust to the SCE system when I first arrived. However, the level of resourcing , both human and material is very good to support pupil learning in this mobile society.
The points regarding delegation of funding made by Ian are very relevant. In the short time since he returned to the UK, things have begun to change for the better; since April 05, secondary and middle schools have had fully delegated funding and a group of 4 primary schools are trialling this during 06/07, in anticipation of primary heads deciding whether to go down this route or not from April '07. SCE has tried hard to convince MOD that we need financial 'roll over' but the MOD cannot/will not change their rules. SCE has looked at how we can successfully work round this; planned and agreed overspend/underspend is being supported where possible, to try and alleviate the problem of annuality. There is no doubt that staff at HQ SCE are trying to ensure that there is transparency in their financial management and are involving head teachers in decisions regarding funding, mirroring UK practice where possible - but we aren't the same!

In answer to the question from Robert Key, the difference between the Scottish and SCE systems did cause problems both in terms of syllabuses followed but also in more basic issues such as which year should a student be placed.

The system in Scotland is so different than that in SCE the arrival of a battalion previously stationed in Scotland was quite challenging. A different start time to the school year meant some students were in the wrong year group compared to their English system colleagues.

As a science teacher we had problems as there is no compulsion to study all three sciences to 16 as there is in the English system. We have no links with the Scottish Examination System so the incoming students had to adjust to our curriculum.

I am a Teaching Assistant in a Garrison Primary School. We are currently accepting many more Gurkha children into the School, as a result of the changes to the Army's policy on Gurkha families. For older children and those Gurkha children who may have been educated in English we provide a lot of support in 'English as an Additional Language', assisted by our local LEA Team. However, recently we have received a lot of younger children who speak only Nepalese. Coupled to that most of the other family members do not speak any English either. When about a third of a Foundation Group are Nepalese, who speak no English at all, and have no understanding of the culture that we live in, it proves very difficult to maintain a healthy learning environment for all the children. Are additional resources going to be made available to assist Nepalese Mothers and Grandmothers to learn English, or to train Teaching Assistants to learn Nepalese? Or, are there any other suggestions to overcoming the culture and language barriers?
With regard to information passed between schools, we do not receive any information from Nepalese schools.