Digital toolkit: Virtual resources
At Forces Children’s Education we are dedicated to providing families and education professionals with the resources to support the children and young people of Armed Forces families.
Our website has a number of resources for families and educators, everything from ‘Understanding the Scottish Education System’ to the Powers of Transition comic.
We have compiled this list of resources to help children and young people, their families, educators and the wider community.
Families
Powers for Transition comic
We created a special comic and set of characters to help children during their transition to the Scottish education system.
The Forces Children’s Education, printed comics are available to view digitally via the link below.
The characters and comics were specifically designed by Dekko Comics for Armed Forces children. The stories aim to connect the experience of military families.
X-Ray of Feelings
The X-Ray of Feelings: Being a Military child is a series of downloadable activity sheets for families and educators.
Our friends at Little Troopers have a host of fun resources for families. There are mindfulness colouring pages, poems and recipes to enjoy. Little Troopers also created an ‘X-Ray of Feelings’ poster about being an Armed Forces child, which has been kindly provided for download here, too.
Emotions Worksheet
This worksheet from Bounce Forward is a great way to help children talk about their feelings and work through what might be causing them
Wellness During Conflict
Our friends at NHS Highland released an article focused on tips for maintaining wellness during conflicts like the current war in Ukraine. This article has lots of useful information for both families and educators
Understanding the Scottish Education System
This guide has been produced by Carolyn MacLeod of Forces Children’s Education and ADES to give families moving to Scotland an overview of how our system works and identify key areas of difference.
Download our guide to the Scottish education system to help make your child’s transition to Scotland as smooth as possible.
Let Your School Know
Forces Children’s Education created Let Your School Know leaflets and posters to help Forces families and schools to communicate children’s needs to aid in settling into a new area. We have also had them translated into Nepali and Fijian.
Army Welfare Service plan and objectives
The Army Welfare Service (AWS) poster outlines their ambitions to enable and inspire children, young people and families of service personnel through youth and community work. Discover more via the button below.
Veterans Hub
A veterans news and communications hub for forces-friendly organisations to showcase the continued value of our highly skilled veteran community. This project is by Defence Relationship Management and Cobseo (The Confederation of Service Charities).
Support and advice for veterans
This page provides contact information if you need information, advice or assistance and help.
Identification of Armed Forces Families
Guidance on letting schools and early learning centres know you are an Armed Forces family – the SEEMiS Indicator.
Schools must activate this indicator in response to information offered by parents.
Support for Your Child fact sheet
When your child moves to the Scottish education system they will be supported in their learning, personal and emotional development in accordance with the curriculum and policies in Scotland.
The button below provides information to support your child.
Notification of parental deployment form
It is normal for children and young people from Armed Forces families to experience changes in behaviour, and become unsettled at school when one of their parents goes away for any length of time.
Parents and carers are encouraged to complete and return this form to their child’s school in advance of any parental deployments or absences, such as training.
Educators
Rallying to the Flag
This ground-breaking report is the result of a two-year research project conducted by Carolyn MacLeod, of Forces Children’s Education, in collaboration with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) and the Centre of Military Research, Education and Public Engagement (ENU) with Edinburgh Napier University.
Rallying to the Flag: A Consolidated Picture of Armed Forces Children’s Education in Scotland in 2021: Laying Foundations & Promoting Development report provides an overview of the challenges faced by children and young people when a family member is in the Armed Forces.
To find out more information and to receive a copy of this valuable resource.
Learn to Support Armed Forces Families as an Educator
There are more than 13,000 Armed Forces children and young people in Scotland across all 32 local authorities. Knowing if a child or young person is from an Armed Forces family is crucial to helping them on their learning journey. It means educators can work with families to provide the necessary educational and pastoral support.
The information in this resource is also beneficial to anyone who works with or has links to children and young people from Armed Forces families. This could include school staff, community club or youth group workers, sports coaches, or people whose children have friends with parents in the Armed Forces.
Identification of Armed Forces Families
Guidance on letting schools and early learning centres know you are an Armed Forces family – the SEEMiS Indicator.
Schools must activate this indicator in response to information offered by parents.
Toolkit for Teachers
The Toolkit for Teachers has been developed to help staff answer the questions they will have when a pupil from an Armed Forces family joins their school.
Created and launched by Forces Children’s Education, the guidance document is packed full of advice and tips.
The toolkit aims to provide insights into Armed Forces children, improve outcomes for them and provide professional development and resources.
GIRFEC poster
Educators can get access to the latest Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) poster. It was created by the Naval Families Federation (NFF) and provides information about how the Scottish Education System can support children.
Welcoming Forces Children poster
Children from Armed Forces families bring many benefits to the schools they attend, find out more and download our poster.
Phrases for use by educators
This document, created by Forces Children’s Education has been tailored to help educators when talking about war and conflict with pupils.
Children of Armed Forces Families are often highly tuned to the announcements and decisions made by the UK Government that require their serving parent(s) to be away on duty. This downloadable document focuses on talking to children about what is happening in Ukraine.
Let Your School Know
Show your support for Forces families by displaying the Let Your School Know leaflets and posters. Created by Forces Children’s Education, the files can be downloaded and translated into Nepali and Fijian.
Conflict and War: Supporting educators
This is a presentation by Education Scotland which covers the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and teaching without racism.
This material will be of benefit to educators of all age groups.
Wellness During Conflict
Our friends at NHS Highland released an article focused on tips for maintaining wellness during conflicts like the current war in Ukraine.
The content can be used by families and educators.
Families and educators
Additional external support: