April 23, 2024 Chelsea Pensioners and Little Troopers swapped stories of their military lives during a visit organised to celebrate Month of the Military Child. Fifteen children, whose parents are serving in the armed forces, were taken on a tour of the historic Royal Hospital Chelsea site and chatted with the army veterans who live there. Keavie, seven, enjoyed her conversation with one of the Pensioners. “He was so nice to me and told me lots of interesting things about his life. He had been to places my daddy has been to!” she said. Bea, six, added: “One of the Pensioners talked about how b ..read more

April 22, 2024 Working to support service children and young people as they progress through their army lives is an important part of what AFF does. As well as giving advice and helping families navigate the childcare and education systems, we work alongside other organisations that support young people. Education & Childcare Specialist Anna Hutchinson met Katie Salari, CEO of Never Such Innocence (NSI), as the charity embarks on its 10th anniversary year of supporting service youth, to find out more about what it does. Tell us about NSI and what you do NSI launched in 2014 to allow childr ..read more

Enter our awesome spring giveaways! Take a look at what you can win courtesy of Army&You! We have sourced some fabulous prizes for this spring’s Army&You. If you’re a British army family, regular or reserve, just open the form, choose as many giveaways as you would like to enter, complete your details and submit! One entry per household per giveaway. Your details will not be used for marketing purposes. Winners’ names will be published here. These prizes are open to anyone with a soldier in their life – please read our full terms and conditions. Home inspiration You have a chance to wi ..read more

April 17, 2024 Finding suitable childcare is tricky for many parents but the unique nature of military life can make it more challenging for army families. Jill Misson reports… Frequent moves and uncertainty around future assignment locations mean that childcare places can be difficult to source and families face a lack of availability or choice. Many also struggle with the cost. Families’ experiences Army spouse Annie Hennessey says: “We’ve had five military house moves in just under four years. Our eldest has had four nursery places in the last year and we have just managed to secure our you ..read more

April 16, 2024 Eight bereaved young people met the Prime Minister’s wife Akshata Murty at 10 Downing Street recently, to discuss their ideas of how to make positive changes within the education system. The group of young people are all members of Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity which champions and provides a voice for bereaved military children and young people. The group spoke to Mrs Murty about the need for schools and teachers to be given appropriate guidance to enable them to support pupils who have experienced bereavement. For instance, it can be triggering to open an exam paper and t ..read more

Kevin Oldershaw, Academic Director at Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate In anticipation of the release of the spring 2024 issue, which takes a look at technology’s role in teaching and how best to prepare pupils for an increasingly computer-based world, Kevin Oldershaw – Academic Director at Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate – addresses the ‘electronic’ elephant in the classroom… Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay. Schools cannot afford to ignore it and, indeed, are doing students a disservice if they do not properly discuss and agree their fundamental approach to its use. As such, it is ..read more

March 25, 2024 A blog from Army&You’s winter 2023/24 edition by Louise McIntyre In 2013, my husband Archie was getting ready to leave the army and retrain as a gas engineer, while I worked as a teacher. However, there was something missing from our lives. A few years later, following several failed IVF attempts in the UK, we secretly planned and privately paid for one last attempt in Nicosia, Cyprus. To our delight we were rewarded with two gorgeous sons, William and Vincent, and since then life has never been the same! Having twins was busy but we had plenty of fun, including enjoying Moo ..read more

March 22, 2024 The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust has just announced the latest awards made under the Reaching and Supporting Armed Forces Communities programme. It has awarded over £2.8 million to 32 projects that will deliver impact and real change within armed forces communities, including serving personnel, armed forces families, the bereaved, veterans and their families. Sonia Howe, Director of Policy at the Trust, said “We are delighted to have supported so many fantastic projects and we hope that the changes and improvements they introduce continue to positively impact our armed force ..read more

March 20, 2024 Juggling childcare and working can be especially tricky during the school holidays and many families ask AFF for signposting to holiday activities in their area. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution – AFF often directs families to look in the following places as most areas offer something. SOCIAL MEDIA Spending time looking at local pages can highlight a range of activities to suit your children. Many clubs allow non-members to join them for holiday sessions, these include but are not limited to, sports and hobby clubs including football, crafts, rugby, tennis ..read more

March 18, 2024 The Annington Challenge, the project run for military youngsters in partnership with the Outward Bound Trust, was the highlight of last summer for 100 military youngsters, including 42 from the army. The initiative provides UK-based military youngsters aged 10-19 with an opportunity to experience an Outward Bound course and is aimed at those who would benefit from an experience proven to improve self-confidence, team working skills and resilience – all whilst having loads of fun! Annington funds up to 90 per cent of the cost and last year’s group chose between four courses at ce ..read more