C o m m u n i t y
Benson Primary
enson Community Primary School show what a Social Circle at School can do for the children of deployed personnel (and their
parents). A pioneering project has been running at the school for over two years now. Suzanna Rodulson, Head of Pastoral Care at the School and founder of the project, explains just why it is proving so helpful.
Because my husband serves with the Merlin Force I am only too aware of the relentless deployments that are going on. My inspiration for the ‘Social Circle’ came from a little boy who believed he was the only one in school whose daddy was deployed.
Our school is within the confines of RAF Benson and the support group, for the children of deployed personnel, has been running successfully for over two years now. The ‘Social Circle’ meets on a weekly basis during lunchtimes and provides an empathetic environment for the children within the school who have a parent absent on operations or a longer exercise.
The school caters for pupils aged 4 to 11+, and is one of a handful of schools in the UK with an unusually high number of pupils who are the children of serving RAF personnel. In fact 98% of pupils have at least one Service parent. For the teachers and staff this adds an extra challenge, but one they rise to continually to provide the best possible education and educational environment for the children.
All children who have a deployed parent are entitled to attend the Social Circle, where they can get involved in many activities from ‘bluey’ writing to biscuit and cake-making
to craft activities, which invariably results in a gift being sent to the absent parent. The children are brought together with others who are experiencing similar feelings over a loved one’s absence and this in itself can provide lasting benefit.
The Social Circle has gone from strength to strength and received favourable comments during the School’s latest OFSTED inspection. It was also brought to the attention of the Secretary of State for Defence when he visited RAF Benson.
Given the high Service parent pupil base and the Station’s heavy commitment to overseas operations, it is unsurprising that a recent session had over 10% of the entire student body present. Such is the popularity of the Social Circle amongst the pupils. One little girl was heard to respond to the news that her father was about to deploy,
“Brilliant – that means I can go to the Social Circle at school!”
Group Captain Jonathan Burr, Benson’s Station Commander said,
“I am fully supportive of the Social Circle,
it is a fantastic initiative that is both fun and gives the children an opportunity to talk about their deployed parent with other children in the same situation.
“ It is very popular with the children and
they all look forward to Mrs Rodulson’s Friday lunchtime session. We are very lucky that RAF Benson Community Primary School provides such great support to our Service children who regularly have to cope with house moves and parents being deployed, and who generally do not have the same stability as most children.”
32
Spring 2010
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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