Education Today Education Today Magazine
Little Troopers, the military children’s charity, has expanded its range of free resources to help teachers support service pupils aged 11+. Any secondary school with one or more service students can access the materials online at www.littletroopers.net/little-troopers-at-school
Released as part of the charity’s Little Troopers at School programme, the new resources include worksheets to accompany the charity’s new teen podcast (SQUAD); new activities as part of the Little Troopers Forces Life Club pack and an online toolbox of videos for teachers. More than 700 schools have already signed-up to and are using resources from Little Troopers at School.
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, comments: “Before we created these resources, there was nothing out there specifically for military teens in school. Feedback from students and parents was that they wanted to see military life better recognised and supported in education settings. Now teachers have access to a substantial range of evidence-based resources that they can use with any children who have parents serving in the British Armed Forces.”
From discussion-led sessions about military life, to CV workshops, community-focused activity ideas and even a military child wellbeing course, schools can pick and choose the free resources to best suit their needs and the needs of their service pupils.
New for 2022
SQUAD podcast worksheets: In September Little Troopers released series one of SQUAD – a podcast for military teenagers. Presented by broadcaster Katie Thistleton and professional rugby player Thom Smith, the podcast (available on all major podcast platforms) hands the mic to 15 military teens who share their experiences of military life. Now Little Troopers has worked with an Educational Psychologist to add a series of worksheets to accompany each episode so that schools can make the most of listening to the podcast in the classroom.
Online toolbox: The Little Troopers online toolbox is a series of short videos showing schools how to use Little Troopers resources in classroom. The toolbox also features an interview with an Educational Psychologist who explores some of the unique challenges that military life can bring and shares expert advice for all education settings. In another video a group of military parents discuss their views on how they’d like to see schools better support their children through their military journey.
Forces Life Club, new resources: The Little Troopers Forces Life Club Pack encourages schools to regularly bring their service pupils together as a unique group of students. The charity has added eight new activities to the pack with topics including ‘military community’, ‘everything you need to know about me’, ‘peer cooking skills’ and ‘family military life’.
Resource Hub: Little Troopers continues to add new activities to its online Resource Hub for secondary schools. The new activities include ‘how to host a school dinner’, ‘how to write a good CV’, ‘how to organise a virtual mountain challenge’ and ‘how to writing a letter to your MP’.
Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting service children who have parent(s) serving in our British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. For more information about the Little Troopers at School programme and resources available visit www.littletroopers.net/little-troopers-at-school