Scottish Armed Forces Education Support Group minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Scottish Government (SG) Learning Directorate (Chair and Minutes)
• Scottish Government (SG) Safer Communities Directorate
• MOD RAF Representative (RAF)
• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) Advisor (AA)
• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) National Education and Transitions Officer (NETO)
• Naval Families Federation (NFF)
• MOD Armed Forces Families and Safeguarding
• Forces Children Scotland (FCS)
• MOD Army Representative (AR)
• Army Families Federation (AFF)
• RAF Families Federation (RAF-FF)
• MOD Royal Navy Representative (RN)

Apologies

• Napier University
• Education Scotland, Inclusion Wellbeing and Equalities (ES)

Items and actions

Review of Actions of Previous Meeting – 17 September 2025

The note of the last meeting was shared for comments.  Amendments were received and actioned. These will be published on the Scottish Government website.

Action: ADES will provide the group with a copy of the letter that was shared with the ADES Network.

A copy of the letter will be shared with these minutes.

Action: the Chair will share the Code of Practice consultation link with the group when available. 

Safeguarding

ADES National Education and Transitions Officer (NETO) continues to have meetings with network groups and head teachers across local authorities, reviewing what schools and local authorities are posting online and encouraging them to remain vigilant, as well as the importance of reviewing analytics regularly.

Data Collection

The Armed Forces Children & Young People data was collected as part of the pupil census in September. Headline stats will be released on Tuesday, 9th December 2025. The first data release is expected to be around March 2026.

Action: the Chair will share the data with the group when available.

Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan

Work progresses on the outstanding actions within the ASL Action Plan, the final progress report is due to be published in Spring of 2026, prior to the end of the parliamentary term.

Transitions

The Armed Forces Transitions Resource sub-group last met on 13 November 2025. An action plan was reviewed as well as a draft design layout for the resource. The leads of the working groups are due to meet on Thursday, 4 December 2025, followed by a meeting with the wider subgroup on 11 December 2025.

Members Updates

ADES National Education and Transitions Officer (NETO) – An online workshop took place on 19 November which looked at funding opportunities and applications. Attendees heard from grant recipients who shared information regarding their projects. The presentations were recorded and will be made available on the Forces Children Education website. A survey has been sent to the members of the network groups ahead of an Educators Sharing Good Practice event planned for March 2026.

ADES Advisor – discussions have taken place with an Independent Education Advisor, around key outcomes of addressing transitions. A consultation with the Information Commissioner took place to address the issue of transfer of information between schools. Some schools believe this would be a data breach, but the Information Commissioner found it does not constitute as a data breach.

Along with the ADES National Education and Transitions Officer (NETO) and Napier University representative, the ADES Advisor has been invited to present their findings from their research into Armed Forces Families with Children requiring Additional Support with their learning at an event in York on 4 February 2026.

Forces Children Scotland - has launched a participation principles workshop. FCS had a youth led panel and a workshop facilitated by young people at the recent SCiP conference. How to become an early adopter was launched as part of the Rights Charter Defender. Early Years Scotland now have 55 settings and have a range of resources available on their website, aimed at helping early years practitioners better understand forces life. Due to the success of the secondary school level deployment rollercoaster, FCS will be co-producing a primary school age version in 2026.
FCS Participation Principles: Principles-Ready-for-publication.pdf

Become a Rights Charter defender: Become a Rights Charter Defender - Forces Children Scotland

Army Families Federation – continue to receive enquiries regarding support with university finance and the also childcare offer. Housing survey results have been published on the website: The future of defence housing - Army Families Federation. The autumn issue of Army&You has gone live: Army&You magazine: For everyone with a soldier in their life. The next edition will be published in March 2026.

Naval Families Federation –Naval Families Federation (NFF) Devolved Policy Manager attended the Firm Base – Military in Scotland Conference in Edinburgh, alongside the Devolved Manager from the Army Families Federation (AFF), to present on the lived experiences of military families in Scotland. NFF met with Argyll & Bute Befrienders, a group of volunteer befrienders who can help build confidence in children & young people between the ages of 6-18. This work is being funded by Argyll & Bute Council. The charity contacted NFF to find out how they can support military families.

Home | Argyll and Bute Befrienders SCIO

MOD Armed Forces Families and Safeguarding – the MOD is going through a restructure which may result in different contacts and people to engage with.

The Impact Centre was launched in July and will help organisations improve evaluating their work.  It is funded by Forces in Min Trust for 2-3 years.

Action – Impact Centre to be added to a future agenda.

Scottish Government Safer Communities – the extension of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty has a statutory duty on education authorities to pay due regard to the principles of the covenant when delivering a service. It will be going through Westminster, extending to national authorities. This will have an impact on policy development within this space.

The Office for Veterans Affairs have launched a pilot named Veterans Access to Localised Opportunities for Support (VALOUR) aimed at improving delivery of support for veterans.  Funding is also being provided for drop-in centres to be built across the country initially to support veterans and this will also extend to service families after the second year. This enables people to access direct support. There are concerns around duplication of existing services.

RAF Family Federation – ‘Get to know us’ sessions are running between Oct-Jan. The information sessions are designed to help Service Personnel and their families better understand the support available to them. The autumn edition of Envoy is now live: Envoy magazine < RAF Families Federation. RAF-FF continue to engage with DFE re SEND. Developing plans for childcare evaluation early 2026.

Online information sessions: Get to know the RAF Families Federation < RAF Families Federation

SCiP Conference 2025 – This year’s conference took place in Glasgow and received excellent feedback from attendees of the SAFESG. The UKG Minister for Veterans and People opened the conference, highlighting the contributions of SAFESG and outlining the future direction of its work. There was a discussion around the valuable contribution of the children and young people that Forces Children Scotland brought along to the event. Members from Napier University and Forces Children Scotland closed the event by showcasing the work of the SCiP Hub in Scotland.

Date of next meeting: March 2026