Service Children at Mount Street Infant School
Here at Mount Street Infant School all children will receive a warm welcome into a nuturing and caring environment. We understand that service children may have moved many times and have attended different schools and settings and we aim to help the children and their families settle into Mount Street Infants and Brecon.
The school currently has 2 designated teaching assistants for service children funded by the Ministry of Defence, including a first language Nepali teaching assistant. Our dedicated and enthusiastic staff provide an exciting creatives and challenging curriculum and are committed to achieving the highest standards in teaching and learning for all children. For the full details regarding our Values and Ethos please click here.
Alongside the funding we receive for teaching assistants and resources, we have appliced for Covenant Grant Funding from the MOD which has lead to a community garden in 2016 on the front yard, a great place for the pupil’s to play during and after school, while giving the parents a time to catch up with each other. We have also been fortunate enough to receive the Covenant grant in 2019 for an Outdoor Classroom on the playing fields – a fantastic spot to work in and spot some of the wildlife nearby.
Supporting Service Children in Education (Cymru)
You may find the Supporting Service Children in Education (Cymru) a useful resource tool. The SSCE help to support families and schools. Please click here to see the case study they did at Mount Street Infant School – Case Study – Mount Street Infant School.
A Nepali guide to Supporting Service Children in Education can be found here – SSCE Cymru Service Family Guide – Nepalese.pdf
The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise by the nation, ensuring that those who serve or who have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly.
The covenant focuses on helping members of the Armed Forces community, experience neither advantage nor disadvantage due to Service and therefore have the same access to government and commercial services and products as any other citizen.
For more information on the Armed Forces Covenant, visit:
www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/support-and-advice
In June 2023, Mount Street Infant School was awarded the gold award for Supporting Service Children in Wales, the first school in Wales to have achieved this status.
Armed Forces Covenant commitments
At Mount Street Infant School we demonstrate our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant through the following activities:
- We engage with our Armed Forces community
- We celebrate the commitments of our Armed Forces community in a positive way
- We create opportunities for our Service families to share their experiences
- We identify our Service children and ensure they are well supported in education
- We are proactive in gaining information that will enable us to support our Service children
- We engage with SSCE Cymru and the resources and support that they provide
- We ensure all our pupils have opportunities to learn about the current Armed Forces operations and commitments of the UK Service personnel
- We understand the commitments and sacrifices that our Armed Forces families make in ensuring we can be safe and protected from danger.
Please click here for information about Service Children at our school
|
| A Brecon primary school has been congratulated by Powys County Council after it became the first in Wales to achieve gold status for the supportive and inclusive environment it has created for Service children.
Mount Street Infants School has become the first school in Wales to achieve the Armed Forces Friendly Schools Cymru Gold Status. The school received their award at a presentation on Friday, July 7. The Armed Forces Friendly Schools Cymru initiative was launched in 2022 and aims to foster a supportive and inclusive environment for Service children in schools across Wales. Participating schools undertake a series of activities and actions aligned with the SSCE Cymru School Checklist, which includes both compulsory elements and additional tasks, to progress from Bronze to Silver and ultimately achieve the esteemed Gold status. Cllr Matthew Dorrance, Deputy Leader and Armed Forces Champion, said: “I’m delighted that Mount Street Infants School has become the first school in Wales to achieve Gold status. “They are leading the way in providing a warm and friendly welcome to Service children while building strong and lasting relationships with the local Armed Forces community. I want to congratulate everyone at the school for their success – it is fully deserved.” Cllr Pete Roberts, Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys, said: “To become the first school in Wales to achieve gold status is a superb achievement and everyone at Mount Street Infant School should be proud of this special recognition. “By achieving Gold status, they have demonstrated exceptional commitment to embedding best practices for supporting Service children and enhancing engagement with their Armed Forces community.” For further information on the Armed Forces Friendly Schools Cymru initiative visit the Supporting Service Children in Education Wales at https://www.sscecymru.co.uk/ |
Links with Help the Heroes
As part of the many links we have with the Services, we have also been involved with Help the Heroes. In 2022, a Year 2 pupil won a t-shirt design competition for Help the Heroes.
This is the article from the Brecon and Radnor Express
A Brecon school pupil has won a nationwide competition to design a T-shirt – which will now go on to be printed and sold for charity.
A pupil from Mount Street Nursery and Infant School, was announced as the worthy winner of the competition earlier this month. The competition, which was entered by schools all across Wales, was run by UK Armed Forces & Military Veterans Charity Help for Heroes.
On Thursday, June 16, the ‘Hero Bear’ made a special appearance at the school to present the winner with the very first T-shirt, hot off the production line. The T-shirt displaying the winning design will now go on to be printed and sold via the charity’s online shop.
The design competition was judged by former Royal Marine James Cobby. To decide the winner, James was presented with five designs shortlisted from around the country. The winning design caught James’ eye because of her use of bright colours and the happiness it made him feel. The word ‘ysbrydoli’ adorns the T-Shirt – which means ‘inspire’ in Welsh.
The story of how the competition came about begins last year, when a six-strong team of veterans representing Wales won the Help for Heroes national virtual spring games. The team had a great time together, stayed in touch and decided to take on another challenge this year, The team includes West Sussex-based James, who came in to fill the gap left by a last-minute withdrawal and has been regarded as an honorary Welshman ever since.
It was decided that the next challenge they would undertake is to climb Pen y Fan. At 886m, the Brecon Beacons peak is the highest in South Wales.
The design competition was organised so that the veterans could wear the T-shirt when ascending the mountain and would also have a unique souvenir to mark the occasion.
The day before the school visit, on June 15, James, who is a full-time wheelchair user, and the veterans climbed the mountain, with a team of staff and supporters. The team wore the prize winning T-shirt for the climb – which was aptly named ‘Operation Ysbrydoli’.
One of the organisers, Sport, Activity & Fellowship Lead at Help for Heroes, Nick Vanderpump, said: “There was such a great spirit within the team they decided they wanted to undertake a further challenge together and, with the benefit of an all-terrain wheelchair – and his fabulous support team – James will be there again at the forefront of it. They’re all such great friends now, it’s heart-warming.
“The idea of the climb is not to fundraise, but to demonstrate the value of fellowship and personal goal setting for veterans on their journey of recovery. And this concept is a central tenet of what we do at Help for Heroes.”
Jennie Rumble, Project Manager at Veteran’s Clinical Services at Help for Heroes, added: “Everyone that meets James is inspired by him and what he continues to achieve.
“This design was perfect and reflected everything that Help for Heroes is about.”