EDUCATION
MY VISION FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Mike Cooper has taken up the post of Director, Children & Young People (D CYP), the MoD’s tri-Service lead for all issues relating to Service children and young people worldwide. Here Mike, who has three young children of his own, talks about his vision for the future of the department.
I
am delighted to have taken on the role as Director Children and Young People and I am looking forward to taking the Directorate,
which includes Service Children’s Education (SCE) and the Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) through a new era of closer working relationships now we are all collocated together in Upavon.”
Mike provides the Adjutant General, the Principal Personnel Officer for children’s issues across the MoD, with leadership and direction for the development and implementation of children and young people’s services.
“We will continue to provide accurate information, advice and support which CEAS offers to Service parents, about all aspects of children’s education and SCE will continue to run schools attended by many Service children overseas.
“The Directorate are gearing up for a busy time as the Germany drawdown approaches. Over the next 5 to 6 years there will be around 5,000 Service children moving from Germany to the UK, but I am confident that the Directorate is keen and ready to take on this important work.”
Within the Directorate, the Education of Service Children Change Programme team has been established, with a focus on improving education provision for Service children in schools across the UK. The team will liaise closely with local authorities as plans are drawn up in respect of school places for Service children returning form Germany and those moving to new schools as a result of rebasing. The team will also oversee the management of the closure of SCE Schools in Germany, while ensuring the high standards of education in those schools continues.
32 Envoy Winter 2013
Mike has a wealth of experience having worked on many high level projects within the MoD over the last 30 years:
“Although these issues will undoubtedly bring challenges – they are not new challenges nor are they unique. We are working with teams of experienced people both within and external to the MoD, who have done this sort of thing before. Issues such as school admissions and planning for school places, provision of pastoral care, identifying infrastructure needs, as well as early years, post 16 and Special Education Needs provision are all being looked at.
“We plan to draw up a communications strategy in tandem with key stakeholders and we aim to keep families informed of progress. As the drawdown approaches information will filter down the chain of command and through to units.
“Also for Service children in England, I would like to remind parents to ensure that their
child’s head-teacher is aware their child belongs to a Service family, so that the school can receive funding on behalf of that child under the Dept for Education’s Service Pupil Premium initiative.
“Also, the MoD £3M Fund exists to assist schools with Service children among their pupil population. The fund is designed to help schools mitigate the exceptional mobility or deployment of their Armed Forces communities. In the coming round, Fund applications from those areas where there is a known geographical change in Armed Forces footprint will be particularly welcomed.”
Further information about the drawdown, rebasing and the MoD £3M Fund will be available on the DCYP
GOV.UK website and if parents need advice about any aspects of their child’s education please call the CEAS helpline on 01980 61824 or 94344 8244 (mil) or email:
enquiries@ceas.uk.com
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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