Oxfordshire is a county with one of the highest numbers of service children in the country. Yet while some local schools have a very high percentage of military families, there are many schools with just a handful of service children in Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire County Council has for many years had a dedicated Armed Forces Champion to provide schools with a regular flow of information and advice to help them better support service children. In 2024, the local authority secured funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Fund to take this support one step further. The new project was specifically aimed at bringing together children from schools with very few Armed Forces families for a week of interactive events.

Partnering with Little Troopers

As one of its partners, the County Council turned to Little Troopers to host a special in-person mindfulness workshop, which is part of the charity’s Little Troopers at School programme. The Little Troopers team travelled to Oxfordshire to deliver the workshop for 40 military children from three different schools.

Streamed as a live event, the children were greeted by the familiar faces of TV broadcasters, Katie Thistleton and Frankie Vu. They spoke to the children about what life must be like growing up with a parent serving in the Armed Forces.

Engaging service children in fun activities 

The children then took part in a range of fun activities including games, drawing, storytelling, movement and mindfulness. The workshop encouraged the children to discuss and explore how forces life sometimes impacts on their wellbeing, especially at times when they are separated from their serving parent or have to move home or school. The children were also given tips and tools to help them better navigate periods of challenge and change at home.

Little Troopers provided all the resources needed for the day included work sheets, pens, pencils, stickers and certificates, meaning that the schools involved just had to turn up on the day.  

Creating impact 

Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, explains: “It’s fantastic to see Oxfordshire County Council being so proactive when it comes to supporting service children in the area. Our aim as a charity is to ensure that all schools – no matter how many service children they have on roll – recognise the challenges military children face and are well-equipped to support these children whenever they might need it.”

Councillor John Howson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People’s Services, commented: “These workshops are designed to encourage service personnel children to share their lived experiences, to ensure they are both recognised and celebrated.”

Matt Blyton, School Improvement Advisor and Project Lead: added: “Every single service children is a unique individual. Some will experience huge amounts of parental separation and they’ve probably been to many schools, whereas others will be static. But this workshop was about bringing forces children together and offering them a strong sense of identity and belonging.”