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Little Troopers at School: 3,200 military children take part in charity workshop
3,200 military children from 150 primary schools took part in a free workshop run by the charity Little Troopers this week.
The children, who all have parents serving in the British Armed Forces, came together to tune into the two-hour virtual session, which was presented by TV broadcasters Katie Thistleton and Frankie Vu.
Using games, drawings and other fun activities, the children discussed some of the unique challenges that military life can bring, such as having a parent deployed or moving home and school. The theme of the workshop was 'wellbeing and mindfulness' and the children were taught ways to explore and communicate their emotions when navigating change, including learning mindfulness techniques.
All of the workshop activities were from the charity's dedicated Little Troopers at School programme, which was created by education experts to give all schools easily accessible resources to support military children in the classroom.
Julie Howlett, Inclusion Lead at St Michael's Primary School in Colchester, commented: "It has been really important for our service pupils to be able to join in with the Little Troopers workshop, not only for them all to get together and recognise they aren't on their own but to learn that it is ok to experience different feelings when going through transitions such as moving into new homes and starting new schools. They all engaged with the activities and opened up about some of the experiences they have had at such a young age."
As a charity, Little Troopers Primary School workshop was made possible thanks to generous grants from ABF Soldier's Charity, Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, Armed Forces Education Trust and Grocers Charity.
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, added: "As the school holidays approach, many military families will be coping with deployment or preparing to move home, so we thought this was the ideal time for schools to bring together their service children to give them some tools to help them through and celebrate what it means to be a 'little trooper'.
"By running a virtual workshop, our small charity can reach and benefit as many service children as possible and make them feel part of this special network of military children across our Armed Forces community."
Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all children who have a parent or parents serving in the British Armed Forces. As well as the charity's school programme, Little Troopers has a number of free resources and initiatives to support children at home the Little Troopers All Together deployment club and the Little Troopers Treasures story recording app which enables military parents to read to their children while they are serving away from home.
For more information visit www.littletroopers.net