Armed Forces Day 2024

29/06/2024 1/01/0001

Armed Forces Day is a chance to show your support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community: from currently serving troops to Service families, veterans and cadets.

SSCE Cymru would like to encourage education settings to carry out activities to celebrate and raise awareness of the Armed Forces and the unique experiences of Service children.

See below for ideas of how to:

Celebrate your Service children’s experiences

Engage with the Armed Forces community

Get creative and celebrate Armed Forces Day

National Armed Forces Day

Each year, Wales' Armed Forces Day is hosted and celebrated in a different region across the Country. Armed Forces Day in Wales commemorates and celebrates the Armed Forces community and is a partnership event between local authorities, Welsh Government, the tri services and other partners.

This year Wales Armed Forces Day is being hosted in Swansea and is being celebrated on the 6th of July at the Wales Airshow with a specially set up Veteran's Village. The event is being supported by the Royal British Legion, and will host an array of service-related charities that help our armed forces community, and the public are encouraged to attend and support.

Next year, Monmouthshire will be hosting the celebrations. More details to follow!

Celebrate your Service children’s experiences!

Encourage Service children to get creative and write their own stories about being a Service child.
Give Service children the opportunity to deliver a presentation about their experiences of being part of an Armed Forces family or share photos, to showcase their positive opportunities.
Show videos of Service children in Wales sharing their experiences, available from SSCE Cymru.
Deliver an Armed Forces Day assembly, using the Little Troopers Armed Forces Day schools pack for ideas of how you can get Service children involved.
Run a discussion group with Service children to gain a better understanding of their experiences and identify ways the school can respond to their needs – you can use SSCE Cymru Tool 11.
Run a story time using books about Service children’s experiences, the Armed Forces lifestyle, being a pupil in a new school or appreciating differences in one another. A series of six bilingual Little Troopers books can be requested for FREE from SSCECymru@wlga.gov.uk
Encourage Service children to get creative and produce a piece of artwork that showcases their feelings about experiences of being part of an Armed Forces family.
On a world map, pinpoint where Service children have lived or their parents have been posted.
Make a Time Zone Wall, including a series of clocks to show the different time zones around the world where Service children have lived or their parents have been posted.
Show videos of Service children in Wales learning Welsh, available from SSCE Cymru.

Engage with the Armed Forces community!

Celebrate a pupil's family member who has previously served or is currently serving in the Armed Forces by asking children to share pictures and medals.
Identify any Reservists in your school community to celebrate on Reserves Day (Wednesday 26th June). Consider asking them to wear their uniform to school or talking about the important role of Reservists in an assembly.
Deliver an Armed Forces Day assembly, inviting a member of the Armed Forces community to share their experiences. Find assembly ideas in the Little Troopers Schools Armed Forces Day pack.
Ask a current or former member of the Armed Forces (a parent, sibling or friend) to be a guest speaker and share their experiences.
Send thank you cards to a local Armed Forces base/unit/station, an Armed Forces charity or a nursing home or veterans’ community group.
Invite the engagement team your local Armed Forces base/unit/station to deliver an activity (STEM or team-building) with pupils.
Work with your Armed Forces contacts to produce a short film showing the life of soldier.
Utilise the Armed Forces Day Learning Resources to explore the history of the Armed Forces.
Use the Royal British Legion’s Remembrance Teaching Resources to “reflect on Service and sacrifice” and raise awareness of our nation’s history.

Get creative and celebrate Armed Forces Day!

Use the Armed Forces Day Virtual Event Toolkit to organise an event to celebrate Armed Forces Day within your school.
Make some Armed Forces themed bunting, to hang in the school and classroom.
Utilise the Armed Forces Day colouring-in sheets to produce colourful and exciting pieces of artwork to showcase in the school on a display.
Utilise the Little Troopers Armed Forces Day schools pack for certificates, colouring-in sheets and wordsearches.
Ask pupils to say a few words of appreciation about the Armed Forces through writing poems, songs or writing letters.
Join the national #SaluteOurForces by photographing staff and pupils saluting in support of the Armed Forces and post on social media using #SaluteOurForces.
Create and record a role-played news programme explaining the value of the Armed Forces.
Complete Armed Forces-themed activity sheets, puzzles and wordsearches, available from Little Troopers.
Show your support digitally by adding Armed Forces Day logos, banners and images on email signatures, Twitter banners and on the school website.
Invite your Local Authority Armed Forces Champion to attend activities and celebration events during and in the lead up to Armed Forces Day.

Check out our SSCE Cymru journal page for pictures from Wales' National Armed Forces Day events!

Information, advice, & support

In the run up to Armed Forces Day SSCE Cymru host a number of Armed Forces Day specific drop-in sessions for schools and Local Authorities across Wales. If you would like to learn more about how you could get involved or discuss your ideas with the team, please consider attending an upcoming session. The full timetable can be found here.

Service children’s quotes

"As soon as we get used to a house, you get moved - I’ve been to four schools and moved six times."

Aiden

"I lived in Nepal, then we went to Brunei, then Malaysia."

Ashim

"In my eyes, you have hundreds of friends in different places."

Chloe

"I’m used to moving now and mixing with the children... I’ve done it so many times, it’s just a normal thing now."

Chloe

"It's ok talking over skype and that, but sometimes you just want a hug when Dad is away."

Georgia

"I’ve enjoyed going around to lots of places around the world, it's adventurous and exciting."

Harry

"In my eyes, you have hundreds of friends in different places."

Ieuan

"My mum got a chalk board and it says how many sleeps on it with chalk, every minute it’s getting closer for him coming home."

Mia

"I don’t want him to get promoted... I want him to get promoted but I don’t want to leave."

Oliver

"I might be going to boarding school so that I don’t change schools every few years."

Ryan

"I've been to seven different schools; I’ve not stayed put in one school long enough."

Shana

"He has been away for six months and he is back for two weeks, then he goes away again."

Sianed

"My parents were in the Army. My mum is a like a nurse and my dad went to the war in Afghanistan. I actually didn’t really know what he was doing so I was like, ‘Cool Dad, go there,’ but then I found out and thought, 'Thank God he came back alive.'"

Sanjog

"He signed off last week, so he will be done by the end of this year. He’s done 24 years. I find that better because he will be around a lot. He likes watching us playing rugby, so he will get to see us more."

Lewis

"I’m going to a new place entirely. They don’t know anything about me and that’s a big restart and that’s really good for me."

Piaras

"I moved to Wales because my dad was posted in the Army. I thought I would get bullied and I was shy when you meet new people, but I made some friends."

Dan