SIXTY military children from schools across Dorset have been taught ways to handle the challenges they might face as they grow up in a virtual workshop.
Children from Dorchester, Bovington, Wareham, Bridport, Yetminster and Poole, who have parents currently serving in the British Armed Forces, participated in a free online workshop exploring some of the unique challenges they might experience, such has having a parent deployed overseas and regularly having to move house and school.
The workshop was run by the Little Troopers charity through their Little Troopers at School programme, which aims to educate schools about the needs of military children, and funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund.
Liesel Munro, a teacher at Bovington Academy, said: "At Bovington Academy, where over 65 per cent of our students are Little Troopers, we strive to ensure that children who arrive at our school become part of our family as soon as possible.
"By taking part in the Little Troopers workshop were able to learn other ways of doing this as well as celebrate our military pupils and make them feel like little superheroes.
- READ MORE: Bovington Academy has confirmed Covid cases
"It is so important to acknowledge what these pupils are going through as well as how they are feeling."
Children took part in storytelling, imaginative play, movement and drama workshops and were shown tools that could help them navigate some of the challenges they may face as military children.
Louise Fetigan, founder and operations manager at Little Troopers, said: "There are tens of thousands of military children across the UK and the support they receive in school is very varied depending on where they live in the country and what school they go to.
"Our aim with the Little Troopers at School programme is to make it really easy for schools to have targeted resources they can use with their military children - whether that's one or two military children or two hundred.
"We want to make sure that wherever children live and however many schools they go to, they can access support if they need it and that all schools have a good understanding of the unique challenges that military life can bring.
"We had originally planned to run a physical roadshow last summer, but as with many things the pandemic changed our plans.
"It's actually turned out for the best as our virtual workshops have enabled us to reach far more military children than we could have seen in person and we hope that the children who have taken part will really benefit from the session, as well as having had lots of fun."
For more information about the Little Troopers, visit www.https://www.littletroopers.net/
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here