Children from military families

Examples

Currently only a very small number of higher education providers refer to children from military families in their access and participation plans.

Below are some examples of how providers and other organisations have supported outcomes for children from military families which you may find helpful when developing your own approaches. Some of these approaches may not yet be fully evaluated.

We will update this page with more examples of effective practice as we identify them. If you have, or are aware of, examples of effective practice on this subject please contact [email protected].

A North Yorkshire approach to working with military service children

A collaborative project was set up as part of the Uni Connect programme to address the educational needs of local military service children in North Yorkshire.

The aims of the project were:

• to investigate and address the needs of children from military families
• to increase the number of military service children applying to higher education.

The project involved creating a regional network, developing outreach activity, listening to students’ experiences, research and training.

Read the full case study

Uni Connect partnership work

Six Uni Connect partnerships have worked in collaboration with the SCiP Alliance to launch the Thriving Lives Toolkit and online targeting tool at the SCiP virtual annual conference on 20 October 2020.

Underpinned by rigorous research and thoroughly tested in schools, the Thriving Lives Toolkit provides schools with a framework of seven principles through which to reflect on their practice and a three tier set of continuing professional development resources.

Festival of Friends project

The Festival of Friends Project is a collaborative activity between the Uni Connect partnership York and North Yorkshire (FutureHY), North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council, University of York and York St John University.

The aim of the project is to develop and share good practice to support service children in primary and secondary schools across York and North Yorkshire.

School staff will also receive continuing professional development sessions from Service Pupil Champions based at North Yorkshire County Council.

A £20,000 grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust was successfully won by the group, which covers all expenses.

The project culminates in a celebration event at the University of York, attended by school teachers, pupils and their parents and carers to celebrate individual school initiatives.

The project will directly impact on the pupils taking part but should also indirectly impact on the whole school community going forward.

Creative Forces events

The SCiP Alliance Practice Group has published an evaluation of Creative Forces events run for children of military service parents.

The report investigates data gathered from primary and secondary school children during their campus visits, particularly looking at their knowledge of and attitudes towards higher education.  

Making the step into health - case studies

Health Education England and Step into Health have been working collaboratively to increase awareness about how armed forces personnel can get involved in allied health professions. They have created the promotional video below, as well as a suite of video and written case studies from people who have made the career change.