The Covenant in action SERVICE CHILDREN’S EDUCATION


Figure 3 shows levels of awareness of the Service Pupil Premium amongst respondents. Whilst there is an encouraging 9% increase in the number who knew about the Premium, (over 2012) there was also a 5% increase in the number of voters who were not actually aware that they had to register their children as Service family members, to enable the school to qualify for the payment. If the child is not registered, the school cannot claim the premium.


We were also disappointed to learn that 81% of voters were still not aware of the £3M School Fund, set up by the MoD to support those State schools across the UK with Service pupils enrolled. More work clearly needs to be done to ensure that families, and schools, are made aware of these vital funding opportunities whilst they are still available.


these problems included coping with a different curriculum


19% of participants told us they had encountered some problems, over the last four years, because their children changed schools as a result of a permanent assignment. These problems included coping with a different curriculum, the timing of the posting and a lack of school places at their chosen schools. There is an expectation that the Covenant should help alleviate these problems, so that Service children are less affected by their mobile lifestyle but, again, there


is anecdotal evidence


implementation is patchy. There were


that also concerns raised


about the impact on some children caused by the disparity between the education systems within the UK, especially between Scotland and England, with families commenting that their children were either missing or having to repeat a school year as a result of being posted between the two.


Have you heard of the Service Pupil Premium? (available to State schools in England)


Figure 3 t


48%


52%


Yes No


10


The Armed Forces Covenant


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