BREAKING NEWS – for Royal Naval families

In light of the recent decision by the new Government to implement VAT on school fee starting January 2025, we understand that this may create unexpected financial strain for some of our families. To assist those affected, we the Naval Children’s Charity, in partnership with Greenwich Hospital, have established a hardship fund to provide financial support to eligible families.

To be eligible, at least one parent must still be serving, and the child/children must be at a critical stage of their education or have additional needs. Please note that families receiving CEA will not be eligible to apply for this fund.

To confirm your eligibility, you will find a short form here, which will need to be completed. Once you have successfully completed this form, you will be able to download the full application form.

The completed application form, along with the required supporting documents, must be submitted to us by Friday 13th December. Unfortunately, applications that are incomplete or submitted past this deadline will not be considered.

For full details, please click here.

Lydia & Guy

Going to great heights support us!!

Wow, wow, wow… A massive thank you to Lydia and Guy who braved a Skydive to fund raise for us. The duo managed to raise a whooping £1200!! Thank you both so very much. 💙✈️💙🎉

A New Psychological Toolkit for Armed Forces Children

The Naval Children’s Charity are thrilled to be launching ‘Doing Distance’ – a psychological toolkit for armed forces children, to help them navigate the challenges that come with service life, particularly around separation and mobility.

Whether you are a parent of a military child, or a supporting adult from their school or local community, this new psychological toolkit has been specially designed to help support your armed forces children. This toolkit has been compiled with the help from the team at ‘Bear Us In Mind’, a group with over 30 years’ experience working directly with families around separation and loss.

The Naval Children’s Charity’s aim is for these resources to help military children and their supporting adults to navigate the highs and lows of service life. These tools will help with the processing of the challenges experienced by children and young people and enable them hold on to special memories. All these resources will be available to download for free.

 

Clare Scherer MBE, from the Naval Children’s Charity, said:

”We could not be more grateful to Julie Stokes and the Bear Us In Mind team for their generosity in allowing us to adapt and use this amazing toolkit.  We really think it will bring help and support to lots of our families as they deal with some of the challenges that come with life as a service family.”

 

The ‘Doing Distance’ toolkit can be found here.

Polly’s PINK Marathon

Polly Florence decided to do a PINK “Toddlerthlon” to raise lots of pennies for us, as we help to support her and her family in the challenges they face due to Polly’s medical conditions. Polly’s “Toddlerthlon” was a huge challenge, 1 mile walk, 1.5 mile cycle and a whole 1 hour swimming! We are so pleased to say that Polly SMASHED IT!! She also smashed her target of £650 and raised a WHOPPING £1,560!!
 
Polly’s mum said “We cannot thank the Naval Children’s Charity enough for the support and guidance they have given us. We feel very lucky to be part of the Navy community and have access to such a fantastic charity. We are beyond proud of how resilient and brave Polly is, this shone through during her challenge and she absolutely smashed it! We cannot wait to come up with some more cool fundraising ideas to help the Naval Children’s Charity to continue to support families just like ours. Polly was asked why she was doing her challenge and who for, her response was “for the Naval Children’s Charity” because they look after me” 
 
Thank you so very much Polly, you are an absolute SUPERSTAR!!!

The MOD have launched a new Service Pupil Support Programme through the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.

The MOD through their Armed Forces Families Fund (AF3) have launched a new Service Pupil Support Programme through the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.  Specifically supporting Service pupils aged 4-18 years, this programme will focus on those pupils from currently serving families and will support them along their educational pathways.

Schools, academies sixth form colleges, Further Education colleges and local authorities can apply. Full eligibility details are available at https://covenantfund.org.uk/programme/the-service-pupil-support-programme/

The programme will award grants of £5,000 to £80,000 to one-year projects that meet one of three priorities.

  • Closing the gap in attainment between Service and non-Service pupils, using data led evidence.
  • Addressing the needs of Service pupils with additional needs through early identification and intervention using a collaborative and coordinated approach.
  • Identifying and addressing the needs of small cohorts of Service pupils within educational settings.

Your project idea should offer good value for money.  This funding is for stand alone, one-year projects. The AFCFT would anticipate that most grants awarded will be around £40,000 or less.

Supporting Service pupils across the UK

Sonia Howe, Director of Policy and Communications at the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, said: “This programme offers opportunities to access funding for both schools who have large numbers of Service pupils on role, and also those with small numbers. By working together as clusters of schools, those Service pupils based in less military heavy areas can also benefit.”

There are lots of useful resources to our website to help you get started with your application.

The application deadline is 5pm on 31 May 2023 and they’ll expect successful projects to begin from September 2023 in line with the new academic year.

We have been awarded a grant by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for our ‘Thriving through childhood and beyond’ project

The Naval Children’s Charity are delighted to have been awarded a grant by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for their ‘Thriving through Childhood and Beyond’ project, which will be delivered in partnership with The Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance to bring tri-Service benefits for all Armed Forces families with children in early years education or higher education.

It builds on the Alliance’s earlier work which developed the Thriving Lives Toolkit; widely used to support improved educational outcomes for Service Pupils in primary and secondary education.  It will develop and share further toolkits for younger and older age groups; and ensure wide reach throughout the UK.  It will develop a coherent quality standard for the entire sector and create a rigorous evidence base for police and practice development.

Clare Scherer, Chief Executive of the Charity said: ‘We are deeply grateful to the AFCFT for their support of this important work.  For children whose parents have made the choice to serve in the Armed Forces there can be a number of challenges.  It is vitally important that we find ways to support them and extending the SCiP Alliance’s Thriving Lives Toolkit to those all-important early years and into further and higher education will strengthen that support significantly.

Thank you to Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth for choosing to support us this year

We would like to say a huge thank you to Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth for choosing to
support us this year. Their donation will make a big difference to the children and young
people we help, particularly at a time where rising food, fuel and energy costs are putting
even more of a strain on vulnerable families. Thanks to their help we can deliver tailored
support quickly and where it is most needed to help prevent many families from falling further
into crisis.
“Stowe Family Law are proud to support the Naval Children’s Charity with a donation to help
support children and young people in need. We would wholeheartedly encourage other local
businesses to get involved and contribute in any way possible.” – Stowe Family Law
Portsmouth

About Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth
Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth are an experienced team of divorce lawyers and accountants
with a strong record of achieving success for clients across Hampshire. Their family law
solicitors provide an excellent service in order to resolve disputes, meaning you can put your
complete confidence in their family law team.

Rest in Peace, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth

1926-2022

The Naval Children’s Charity are deeply saddened by the death of HM The Queen. She first became our Patron as a princess and we were honoured to have her as our Patron for some 75 years. She was an inspiration to us all, steadfast and loyal, dedicated to her people. All those connected to the Royal Navy are proud to have served her. Our heartfelt condolences to her family and the Nation.

In 1945, the then Princess Elizabeth, became Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marine’s Children’s Trust. Her Majesty held the position for over 70 years, and has always been a fierce champion for Naval families.

This continued the Royal Family’s years of service to the Royal Navy. Her Majesty’s grandfather, George V, served for 15 years, while her father, George VI was stationed at HMS Collingworth during the First World War.

During the course of her patronage, Her Majesty’s fierce support for the children in our community allowed us to deliver so much, and brought with it some brilliant celebratory moments for Naval children.

In 2009, we were delighted to host a royal reception at St James’ Palace attended by Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, where they met many of our beneficiaries and supporters.

To celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, Naval children stitched together a very special present: a quilt made of crowns.

In 2016, we were honoured to take part in another of Her Majesty’s landmark celebrations: her 90th birthday. Representatives of the Naval Children’s Charity were invited to a reception of Her Majesty’s charities in The Mall. Later that year, she would step down from her official role as patron.

On behalf of the Naval Children’s Charity, I would like to thank Her Majesty for a lifetime of unwavering support for our cause and the Royal Navy at large. May she rest in peace.

Best wishes,

Clare Scherer, CEO of the Naval Children’s Charity

Naval Children’s Charity partners with local Portsmouth business Sirius Analysis

While we view ourselves as a truly national charity, the reality of supporting Naval families means a lot of our efforts take place in a few key locations. 

The concentration of Royal Navy personnel in cities such as Plymouth in the south west, and Glasgow and Dundee in Scotland means we have to target our support far and wide, but also within tight-knit communities. 

One way we can make a real difference in these communities is by partnering with local businesses to deliver ongoing support and grow our profile.

A lot of our support is delivered near our headquarters in Portsmouth, a city synonymous with seafaring, and home to many currently serving and veteran personnel. 

Earlier this year, the NCC entered into a partnership with Sirius Analysis, an analytics consultancy also based on the Hampshire coast. 

“We wanted to help an organisation that was closer to home, and decided a charity based in the Southern Hampshire region was the best bet,” says Carl Dalton, managing director at Sirius Analysis.

“Being based in Portsmouth synergises well with our staff and enables easy interaction with fundraising and volunteering.” 

As well as picking a nearby cause, Sirius also wanted to check off two further criteria. They wanted a charity that helped children, and was relevant to their work. 

“The majority of Sirius’ directors and staff have a history of working in the defence sector, and it has become a part of our identity,” says Dalton. 

“The Royal Navy is close to the hearts of many at Sirius, with the team having served directly, or supported in some way. 

“As the NCC is all about supporting children in need, it readily ticked that criteria. We were all very moved by the work the charity does, and we’re eager to help in any way we can.” 

Sirius will provide ongoing financial support, raising money for the NCC throughout the year. They will offer pro bono admin, helping the charity maximise its time in delivering vital support to Naval families and also volunteer support at events attended by the NCC around the UK. 

NCC CEO Clare Scherer said: “We could not be more thrilled to have been chosen by Sirius Analytics as their charity to support.  

“Financially, the money they raise will all go to our children that need our help and the fact that they also are going to volunteer with us to enable us to improve and develop our delivery of support is an added bonus.  

“We are a small team that delivers a lot so any extra funding or help makes a real difference to the help we can give our children.”

If you would like to enquire about supporting the Naval Children’s Charity, please contact our CEO Clare Scherer via email. ceo@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk

About Sirius Analysis

Sirius Analysis specialises in the delivery of analysis to enable its customers to make informed investment decisions and deliver effective projects, using its core skills in Operational Research, Cost Analysis and Systems Engineering. Firmly focused on the expertise, reputation and track records of our directors and staff, the services we provide are ably supported by a diverse network of highly experienced, known and trusted associates.