An online forum on Educating Service Children run by the House of Commons Defence Committee

Young people

We would like to hear from young people who are the children of Service personnel. If you have been to Service schools abroad, we would like to know how you found them. And we would like to know how you found things when your parents returned to the UK, or were posted to a different part of the UK.

We would like to hear both the good and the bad things. And we would like to know any ideas you have for improving the educational experience for children of Service families (for example, ways of making you more welcome when you move school, or ways of making things easier when your parent is deployed abroad).

What has been your experience of education, both in Service schools abroad and in the UK?
Have you got ideas for improvements?

next discussion

This forum is now closed

Posted by Ross on 26/05/2006 - 15:53

Hello.

This consultation forum is now closed. Posting is no longer possible. The forum will remain open so that you can read the posts that were made between April 18 – May 26 2006.

To see the Defence Committee’s closing statement please visit the forum’s homepage.

Thank you.

Ross
Hansard Society, Moderation Team

Different perceptions

Posted by G Clifton on 16/05/2006 - 11:24

I'm coming to the end of my PhD in which I have looked at the experiences of education of army children. In my research, it has become clear that there is a vast difference between the perceptions of army students and their teachers / policy makers. The army students I interviewed all mentioned their feelings of sadness when moving and leaving friends, whereas teachers and policy makers were most concerned about missing records / funding. It strikes me that there needs to be more understanding about what matters to the children involved - by looking at their needs, we might be able to make their experiences better.

Thank you for your insights

Posted by Committee Member on 09/05/2006 - 15:53

Thank you for your insights into what life in the services (or support roles) means for your education. These insights will be invaluable when we come to drafting our report. We have drawn on some of them in asking questions of the Minister and his team recently.

Some of your answers have given me some idea of barriers there might be to young people going on to further and higher education (funding and turbulence being two)

Are there other things which put young people in service families off going on to further or higher education?

The government is keen to look at what can be done to help people generally with this and I wonder if there are any special aspects of service life which affect you think about your future?

Boarding Schools are Brilliant

Posted by KristieWatson90 on 05/05/2006 - 21:05

i am currently attending a boarding school and will be leaving in a month. I first went to a boarding school at the age of 11, now at 16 I can say that compared to all other schools i recently attended, this one is most definately the best. Without the funding of the Services, this would not have been possible. My Dad currently serves in the Royal Navy-this gave myself and my three younger sisters a chance to a better education. The boarding school I am at now is excellent. Before I went there 5 years ago, I hated going to school, but now I think that one of best parts of the day is the education! This is not normally true about most schools. Before I went to a boarding school, I never really learnt anything and hardly ever wanted to attend because nothing was ever done about situations that happened there. I personally think that boarding schools are ths best of education a child/ young person could recieve, it is truly amazing!

Week 2

Posted by Committee Member on 26/04/2006 - 09:37

The web forum has now been open for a week and, I think you will agree, we have had some very interesting and thought provoking comments about the issues which young people, who are the children of Service parents, face in their education. I must thank everyone who has contributed to the forum so far and ask you to encourage your friends to contribute too.

As we move into the second week, I would like to explore further some issues that have arisen so far. In particular

1)What are the main differences between attending schools in the UK and SCE schools overseas?

2)Have you experienced any difficulties in moving between schools in the UK? E.g. have you found yourself repeating some subjects or missing out entirely on others?

Memories

Posted by sue on 20/04/2006 - 14:41

It's been a long time since I was at an Army school - my father having left the Army in 1981 when I was 8.

I found though on moving back to the UK that I was ahead of many in my class, especially when it came to basic things such as joined-up handwriting (the UK school did it after I had been there a year, having already been taught in Germany). My one abiding memory is that when I came back to England I had no idea what English money looked liked (having grown up in Germany) and so I got in trouble at school for not being able to add up the coins in the maths books!

I loved my time in Army schools, I didn't mind the moving about, probably because it was in germany and so everyone else was in the same position. I wouldn't change my experiences for the world.

Moving

Posted by how_noble on 20/04/2006 - 12:57

On many occasions i have found myself in a situation where i am struggling with the work set by my teachers. This is not because i am not able, but the constant moving to and from the UK to Germany. I moved to N. Ireland just before my Y9 SAT's to find that none of the schools did the same examining board i was taking in the previous school, meaning i had to learn whole new syllabus' for three lessons. I was predicted level 6 across the three subjects and only got level 5. In year 10 i moved from N. Ireland back to Germany and guess what? The examining boards were different and none of the classes i chose were available other than Geography to me. I had to catch up of several months worth of notes, work and coursework and with determination i pulled through and got myself back to top sets fro all classes.

bored

Posted by faith on 20/04/2006 - 09:18

hello, thanks for sending a message back james . i hope things will get made better for everyone in germany. why does it cost so much for school. my mum said its about 85 euros a day. thats a lot isnt it. me and my sister are well bored we finish school so early then have nothing to do for the rest of the day
SCHOOLING SHOULD BE FREEEEEEE

school

Posted by chaz on 20/04/2006 - 09:08

hi james my mum gave us our own account now.
Why can i go to school in england fro free and im not allowd in germany. my dad looks after all the solders and all the children and us at home but there is no one to pay for my english school. i find it really hard in the german school one teacher hit my sister and they dont even speak to us. why cant we just go to english school.

Charley and Faith's postings

Posted by Committee Member on 19/04/2006 - 11:54

Hi Charley and Faith.

Thank you for the messages. We've never done this before (at least, the Defence Committee hasn't) and it's a really good way of getting to know what young people really think about their schools and the way things are working. So can you persuade your friends to put messages on the site as well, please?

Because this is a new system, there's one thing I don't understand (probably lots more as well, but this is the one I realise now). How come you both have posted under the name of Billie? Were you just using the same computer? Because I think it would probably be best to get your own log in details if you can.