PUPILS from schools in Hampshire who have parents in the forces took part in a special event.

The 50 students spent the day at the University of Winchester as part of an initiative for service children.

The Creative Forces Day, arranged by the university and Hampshire County Council, enabled the children to meet students from military families who are studying at the university, and take part in creative writing and drama taster sessions.

Doctor Terri Sandison, director of lifelong learning at the university, said: “This is the first event we have organised for children from military families and we were very pleased with the response from the young people and their schools.

“Our own students from military families shared their experience with the children, school staff and each other. The ideas we collected from the children and the students will be fed back to schools across the country and we hope to run more of these tailored events in the future.”

The event culminated in children identifying top tips for school staff in how to increase in-school support for those from military families.

Suggestions included clubs for service children; an inter-school pen pal system, to keep in touch with friends from previous schools; help with writing ‘Blueys’ to deployed parents; and participation in specific projects to distract from stress when parents are away.

Accompanying school staff took part in a workshop led by Hampshire County Council’s County inspector for personal development.

In the workshop staff explored current support initiatives for military service children, and considered how best to mitigate the effects of mobility, deployment and transition.

Hampshire County Council’s executive member for education, Councillor Peter Edgar, said: “The conference provided an excellent opportunity to address the priorities in identified in the action plan for Service Children in the Civilian Military Partnership. It is important that we do all we can to support the children of those in our forces, enabling them to settle rapidly in a new school and get the most out of their education and ensuring they enjoy a smooth transition when they have to move to a school in another area. I hope that this conference will be the first of many.”