PRESS RELEASE : Armed Forces Families Fund grants improving lives for Service Families [March 2023]
The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence on 22 March 2023.
Further funding programmes will open from April 2023.
Funding includes:
- £2 million awarded to 54 projects specifically for Service pupils across the UK to deliver real change for Armed Forces communities.
- £900K for 18 projects enhancing early years learning for Service children aged 0-5.
- £500K for 12 projects that will make a difference for the partners of our serving personnel, addressing their particular needs and challenges.
In January 2022, the MOD published the Armed Forces Families Strategy 2022-2032, a 10-year strategy for improving support to Armed Forces families.
Following the launch of the strategy, the MOD created the Armed Forces Families Fund, a dedicated fund to deliver against the eight themes of the strategy: Family Life, Service Life, Family Home, Education, Health and Wellbeing, Childcare, Support to Partners and Spouses, and Non-UK families.
Addressing the challenges Service children face
54 projects from across the UK were awarded a total of over £2 million to help address the challenges that Service children can face in conjunction with meeting the objectives set out in the Armed Forces Families Strategy.
This impactful programme will deliver real change to Armed Forces communities by improving the educational pathway of Service children.
Stanchester Academy’s project, ‘Safe Space and Support’, will provide a bespoke, supervised safe space for Service children. It will also be used as a meeting place, homework room and dining area, as well as a location for an additional Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) to provide one-to-one tutoring.
The project was designed following consultation with parents and pupils who ranked a safe space and Emotional Literacy Support, alongside one- to-one tutoring, as being the most impactful where Service families are concerned.
Transforming Service children’s futures
Headteacher Gregg Mockridge said:
We would like to thank The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and the Armed Forces Families Fund and mention how grateful we are to receive this grant. These grants are allocated for very specific projects, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to transform the futures of our Service children.
Teacher Rebecca Hendry was delighted to be awarded the funds, saying:
We have a high number of pupils that transfer to our secondary school in later years or mid-way through the year. Many of our students experience having a parent deployed or based elsewhere and away during the week. By funding a specialist ELSA staff member and offering them extra tuition combined with a safe space, we can ensure that they have all the support needed to help them.
As part of this project, a member of staff will also be trained as a ‘Bounce Forward Armed Forces Resilience Champion’, who will lead ‘Building resilience within military families’ sessions and other community events to help improve the lives of Service children and their families.
Supporting Service children’s wellbeing
Peter Davis, Head of the Armed Forces Families Team, said:
We are really pleased with the breadth of work funded in this round of the Education Support Fund. Service pupils’ needs and the challenges they face have been properly considered in each of the 54 projects that will take place across the UK. From tackling the negative effects of separation, to allowing Service children the best chance of building resilience and developing their academic skills against a backdrop of mobility; these projects will make a positive difference to the wellbeing of Service children in many valuable ways and will contribute significantly to the implementation of the MOD’s Armed Forces Families Strategy.
Further funding available from April 2023
The Armed Forces Families Fund will reopen for applications from April 2023.
The Service Pupil Support Programme will open in early April.
This programme will award grants to projects that meet one of the three key aims:
- Addressing the needs of SEND pupils through early identification and intervention using a collaborative and coordinated approach.
- Closing the gap in attainment between Service and non-Service pupils, using data-led evidence.
- Identifying and addressing the needs of small cohorts of Service pupils within educational settings.
Further rounds of the Early Years Programme and Supporting Partners programme will open in Summer 2023; along with a specialist programme that will award a small number of strategic grants linked to themes within the wider Armed Forces Families strategy.
Find out more
For a full list of all projects funded under the Armed Forces Families Fund, access the Trust’s website, www.covenantfund.org.uk
