St. Michael's CE School
Working Together For The Good Of All
“St. Michael’s Church of England School, established upon Christian foundations and living out the Christian faith, is committed to providing every child with an excellent education.”
Social at School (SAS)
At St. Michael’s we firmly believe in catering for as many of the needs of our stakeholders as possible. We are fortunate to have pupils who come from Service Families at our school.
We are aware of the constant mobility factor for the children and the need to ensure that the systems are in place to help them settle when they join our school. The Military Child's Poem (above) encapsulates what it means to be a military child at school, moving around and unable to put down roots. For this reason we are keen as a school to ensure the children whose parents are serving in the military forces feel welcomed and furthermore, we are keen to ensure that we foster links with these children and their families and support them and given as much support as possible to settle.
This is why the ‘Social at School' (fondly known as ‘S.A.S.’!)group is so unique to our school. The SAS group is a well embedded group that has been going for over 13 years and is has supported over 130 military children and their families over the years it has been in operation. It was originally set up by our previous Headteacher to support pupils whose parents were deployed overseas as far back as 2009. It was a time to come together to talk and share any worries and concerns as well as bond together as a unique group. The group has supported all children from ages 4-11 years of age through weekly activities as a group which have been lots of fun.
One form of support we offer the children is a weekly social meeting. The ‘S.A.S.’ group meet to discuss aspects which include:
Any concerns they may have as service children at our school;
Buddy up with other service children across the school;
Socialise and plan for events for the group;
Enjoy buddy activities.
This group recognises the need to provide additional pastoral support to the young children when parents are deployed and a network to share any worries and concerns.