Shipton Bellinger Primary School

Learning and Growing Together

Shipton Bellinger Primary School

welcomes

Service Families

 

 

Shipton working with the Armed Forces Education Trust 

Shipton Bellinger Primary School is proud to be working with the Armed Forces Education Trust in order to ensure that children of acting service men and women are able to achieve the best they can. 

The work of the trust

Collective grants are awarded to schools to help provide educational support for service pupils. Such support is likely to include a specific educational intervention as a result of which the improved educational outcomes of the service children can be demonstrated. The trust may also be able to help with a grant to assist an individual child to overcome difficulties linked to their parents’ service and mobility. Parents are encouraged to view the work of the trust.

See their website - click on this link: https://armedforceseducation.org/

We apply for collective grants from the trust to enable us to provide additional emotional support to service pupils.

Over the last year (2022 - 2023), we have received a grant of £31,000 which is enabling us to  train staff in a special Thrive intervention programme for emotional needs and Emotional Literacy Support. This has then been previously used to, and will continue to, support service pupils both in the classroom and in 1:1 sessions. We have also been able to establish a popular Lunchtime Calm Club for service pupils to access, see below…

Through the grant we are also developing a space specifically for children to access ELSA / Thrive provision as well as a pastoral support area for children and families to be supported through emotional times. A further sensory room is being developed to support children in times of significant emotional stress.

Lunchtime Calm Club

Calm Club runs 3 times a week and is mainly for those children who can find the playground a challenge, due to its unstructured nature. Calm Club provides these children with a safe space to go where they can have fun, but in a more structured way. It is never by invitation only, as we feel that it is important to give all children a chance to access this safe space at lunchtime. This year, the most popular activities have been art based, which is an area that Thrive believes is fundamental for a child’s emotional wellbeing and development. The club can cater for up to 8 pupils at a time and is often oversubscribed, proving its popularity and need within the school. We found that having this space to go to is great for children who just want to talk and relax at lunchtime, without the pressures and hectic nature of a school playground.

Camouflage Kids Club

Camouflage Kids ( named by the children) is run weekly by emotionally trained members of staff to support children facing unique challenges including regular periods of separation from serving parents(s). It provides a space for children to support each other and have a safe place to talk to peers who are facing the same issues. Camouflage Kids brings together children together from the age of 4 to 11 and for those children who need to be more active, Camouflage Kids also offers an active lunchtime club with a qualified sports coach for the children to enjoy enrichment activities.  

 

                                                                                                                                Learning and Caring Together

A Guide to School Admissions for Service Families - please click here

Shipton Bellinger School is a seven class primary school situated in a small village just outside the Garrison Town of Tidworth. Approximately 65% of our children are from service families, some of whom are quartered in the village itself and the remaining coming from Tidworth. Occasionally we also have children from Bulford Camp and increasingly from other nearby villages as service families have bought their own homes and settled in the area.

 

Mobility

Our school has a lot of experience of working with children who move homes and schools and we try our very best to ensure your children settle quickly and therefore continue to make progress with their education. We have a well established induction and exit policy which we hope will make your child’s move as smooth as possible

Starting School

We will

  • Give you and your child a tour of the school
  • Send a letter to your child from their new class
  • Provide your child with a buddy
  • Welcome your child in assembly
  • Introduce your child to other members of staff
  • Read your child’s previous reports and records and make any necessary assessments
  • Give you feedback of how your child has settled

 We believe that education is a partnership between the school and parents and you can help us by:

  • Making an appointment to look around the school
  • Informing us of any special needs your child has
  • Telling us about any worries you may have

Leaving school

Once we know your child is leaving

We will

  • Ensure any assessments are made
  • Write a leaving report
  • Provide you with your child’s school work, records and report to give to the new school
  • Send any Special Needs records direct to your child’s new school
  • Sensitively talk to your child about the move and discuss any worries they may have

 We ask you to

  • Inform us as soon as you know that you may be leaving even if you do not have actual dates. This is because the impending move may already be having an effect on your child.
  • Inform us of your child’s last day at school.
  • Provide us with the new school’s name and address and your forwarding address.
  • Return reading book and library book.
  • Collect and sign for child’s work

 Deployment

We understand that deployment is major part of service life and as we take children from all the different regiments within the garrison there is rarely a time when we do not have a child who has one of its parents away for a long period of time. Again our staff has experience of working with children who are in this situation. Several of our staff have first hand experience of service life and all staff have received training on deployment and the effects it may have on service children. We aim to help pupils learn to deal positively with the change and transition caused by deployments.

 We understand that children may feel

        • Anxious
        • Confused
        • Fearful
        • Upset
        • Sad
        • Angry
        • let down
        • Ambivalent

We aim to maintain a ‘haven of normality’ during a time of change and challenge and we do this by

  • maintaining classroom routines;
  • maintaining expectations of behaviour and school work;
  • retaining a stable environment, conducive to learning;
  • retaining the enjoyment of learning and being with friends;
  • enabling children to learn how to manage thoughts and feelings. ELSA
  • anticipating and de-fusing potential pressure points;
  • anticipating that some changes will invariably occur
  • providing a listening ear
  • helping the child to keep in touch

Questions

Where are you going? What is it like there? When will you be going? How long are you going for? Why are you going? What will you be doing? Who else is going? Will the family rules change? Will I have to do extra jobs? Will I still be able to……? Who will look after me if……?

Children may choose to explore their feelings within school as a neutral or emotionally safe environment…

Children will have lots of questions and we will provide a listening ear. We will not be able to answer them all and it may not be appropriate for us to so. We will keep you informed about any worries your child may have

Keeping in touch

Regular contact with the parent who is deployed can help reduce the feeling of loss …..

We will

  • Provide time to help draft a message, letter or e-mail;
  • Provide time for younger children to draw on blueys
  • Allow children to send a photo of something they have made or painted.
  • Provide a map of the world on which post cards and photographs can be displayed

To help us to help your child please keep us informed

  • Let us know well in advance of a deployment. We will respect your wishes not to tell your child but the months leading up to a deployment can start to unsettle the child even if they do not know about it.
  • Let us know once you have a confirmed date – we understand this can change.
  • Inform the school office of a second contact telephone number
  • Let us know if you are finding it hard to find time to hear reading, supervise homework etc so we can make alternative arrangements
  • Tell us when the parent is due home (for R & R and end of tour) - we understand that this too is a time of change and of adjustment.