Service Families

Welcome to Danesfield School

Our school is located next to the Service Families' Accommodation, Medmenham ( RAF High Wycombe) and around a third of the pupils at our school are from a Service family. Included below is a welcome letter from our Service Family Support, Mrs Monks, which will give you reassurance of all the wonderful things that are put in place to ensure your move to Danesfield school is a positive one.

Please have a look at the links below which will take you to a variety of websites which may be of use to support you during transitional periods and/or deployment of a family member and help you to feel part of our services community.

Mrs Monks - Service Family Support

RAF - HIVE

https://www.raf.mod.uk/community-support/serving-families/hive-finder/raf-high-wycombe-hive/ has lots of useful information for our Service families.  The HIVE at RAF High Wycombe is located on 3 site, on the left hand side before you enter the main gate.

Little Troopers Charity

https://www.littletroopers.net/about-us/

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all children with one or both parents serving in our British Armed Forces (regular or reserve). The charity ensure that all Little Troopers have fundamental resources available to help ease and aid any separation period. It is important that support can be reached self-sufficiently from wherever military children are based; that initiatives are in existence to keep serving parent and child connected when miles separate them and that there is a community celebrating how special all the Little Troopers out there really are!

How we spend our Service Pupil Premium at Danesfield

The Department for Education (DfE) introduced the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) in April 2011 in recognition of the specific challenges children from Service families face and as part of the commitment to delivering the armed forces covenant.

State schools, academies and free schools in England, which have children of Service families in school years Reception to year 11, can receive the SPP funding. It is designed to assist the school in providing the additional support that these children may need and is currently worth £335 per Service child who meets the eligibility criteria.

At Danesfield School, Service Pupil Premium is used to provide pastoral support in the form of our Service Family Support and our Pastoral Lead.  All service children who join or leave our school receive transition support to help them to settle and feel a part of the school community; this provision continues throughout their time at Danesfield and includes supporting children when a parent is deployed for a short or extended period of time. We also run Poppy Club for KS2 which offers a social environment for children to meet peers and make friends during lunch time.  Additional pastoral support is also available for behaviour, friendships and bereavement when needed.