Little Troopers charity holds free workshop for 100 military children from Portsmouth schools presented by BBC presenter Katie Thistleton and ITV presenter Frankie Vu

ONE hundred military children from seven schools in Portsmouth took part in a free workshop run by a charity for forces families this week.
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The session, provided by Little Troopers, which supports children with one or both parents serving in the armed forces, was presented by BBC Morning Live broadcaster Katie Thistleton and ITV presenter Frankie Vu.

Pupils came together to tune into the two-hour virtual session which discussed unique challenges that military life can bring.

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Using games, drawings and other fun activities, the children talked about topics like having a parent deployed or moving home and school.

Little Troopers workshop saw 100 military children learn new ways to cope with navigating change.Little Troopers workshop saw 100 military children learn new ways to cope with navigating change.
Little Troopers workshop saw 100 military children learn new ways to cope with navigating change.

The theme of the workshop was ‘wellbeing and mindfulness’ and the children were taught ways to explore and communicate their emotions when navigating change, including learning mindfulness techniques.

All of the workshop activities were from the charity’s dedicated Little Troopers at School programme, which was created to give schools resources to support military children in the classroom.

Grants from ABF The Soldier’s Charity, The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, The Armed Forces Education Trust and The Grocers Charity funded the workshop.

Little Troopers workshop saw 100 military children learn new ways to cope with navigating change.Little Troopers workshop saw 100 military children learn new ways to cope with navigating change.
Little Troopers workshop saw 100 military children learn new ways to cope with navigating change.
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Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers said: ‘As the school holidays approach, many military families will be coping with deployment or preparing to move home, so we thought this was the ideal time for schools to bring together their service children to give them some tools to help them through and celebrate what it means to be a ‘little trooper’.

Trudy Sargeant from Wimborne Primary School said: ‘It was so nice to see the children being together and supported in this way when I was a service child there was nothing like this. It's good to see how times have changed.’

Lily Rudkin, a Year 5 pupil, added: ‘I like getting together with the other service children in our school and knowing who has parents in the forces like me.’

Little Troopers offers free resources and initiatives to support children at home like the Little Troopers All Together deployment club and the Little Troopers Treasures story recording app which enables military parents to read to their children while they are serving away from home.

For more information go to www.littletroopers.net

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