Supporting Service Children in Education Wales

Abstract: SSCE Cymru is pleased with the range of schools across Wales that took the time to share their experiences. The responses help us to understand the challenges schools face in supporting Service children, what support is the most beneficial and what schools would find beneficial in helping them to support their Service children. There are a lot of good practice examples in schools in Wales, with education professionals working hard to understand the needs of this specific group of learners. However, many of the responses suggest schools are unaware of the experiences of Service children and are therefore unprepared to support them with their unique needs. No formal mechanism for capturing data on Service children contributes to the lack of understanding in schools. The findings from this survey will provide evidence to impact policy in Welsh Government, specifically the need to identify Service Children through the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC). It will also support policy and system changes in schools and Local authorities, and contribute to new SSCE Cymru resources.