On Monday 18^th May, LiNCHigher hosted our final Creative Forces Day of the year. On this occasion, we hosted students from LSST from years 7 to 10, all of whom have at least one parent who has or currently is serving in the Armed Forces.

The day started with some ice-breaker activities, and after the students were warmed up we got started being creative. For their first activity, students were asked to create a postcard explaining and illustrating their experience being a Service child. Many students opted to illustrate the mixture of feelings they have; whilst others wanted to showcase the many different places they have visited. Whilst this was going on, many students were having discussions with their friends about some of their military experiences, the roles their parents have in the forces and different places they’ve lived – showing that these events support students in connecting and sharing their own experiences, even with people they already know. For the written part of the postcard, students were encouraged to write a letter – this could be to anyone – with the idea they should write down something they would like to say or something they would like the other person to know. Some students wrote to their teachers to explain they get distracted at school because they’re worried’; some wrote to friends explaining how hard it is to keep losing and making new friends; and others wrote to their serving parents and expressed their pride even though they missed them when they were away. Thank you to Siobhan Cambridge for providing these activities for us to use with the students.

After their postcards, students were able to complete a shield activity which further delved down into their personal strengths and challenges and asked them to consider things they are proud of as well as something unique about themselves. A lot of students chose to focus their writing around their military experiences again, with challenges being things like parents being away or being worried about things at home while being at school.

After their postcards, students were able to complete a shield activity which further delved down into their personal strengths and challenges and asked them to consider things they are proud of as well as something unique about themselves. A lot of students chose to focus their writing around their military experiences again, with challenges being things like parents being away or being worried about things at home while being at school.