Organised By: The SCiP Alliance
Date:
Location: Radisson Hotel, North St, York, YO1 6JF
Event Details
Supporting Service children has always been a shared endeavour. As the SCiP Alliance celebrates its 10th anniversary, this year's conference brings together the people, partnerships and ideas that have shaped the last decade – and explores how we can build on that success for the future.
We're especially pleased to return to York, where one of our first Hub Networks was established, to mark this important milestone with the community that has helped shape our journey.
Whether you've been part of the Alliance from the beginning or are joining us for the first time, you'll leave with new ideas, stronger connections and practical insight to support your work.
10 Years in Partnership. Values in Action.
This year's conference celebrates what we've built together and explores what is now possible because of it.
As we begin delivering our new strategy to 2030, we'll reflect on the partnerships, shared learning and evidence that have helped our community grow, and consider how they can guide us through the opportunities and challenges ahead.
In uncertain times, the relationships we've built, the work we've delivered and the change we've achieved together remind us of the importance and the power of bringing a diverse community together around a shared purpose: thriving lives for Service children.
Together we'll explore how our shared values – making a difference, inclusive community and rigorous evidence – can continue strengthening support for the children of serving and ex-Armed Forces personnel.
Throughout the day you'll have opportunities to:
- Hear from leading voices across education, research and policy
- Take part in interactive workshops and roundtable discussions
- Learn from examples of effective practice from across the UK
- Connect with colleagues from across the SCiP Alliance community
- Listen to the lived experiences of Service children and young people
- Share your own ideas, learning and expertise
Interested in contributing to the day? We’re inviting expressions of interest that align with this year’s conference theme of partnerships. Whether you are currently delivering a project or service that is working well, or have done so in the past, we are keen to showcase examples that demonstrate the value of and commitment to collaboration. Find out more here.
This conference is for everyone working to improve outcomes for Service children, including:
- Education professionals
- Practitioners
- Researchers
- Policymakers
- Charities and voluntary organisations
- Funders
- Armed Forces organisations
- Everyone who supports Service children
Welcome refreshments, tea, coffee and water will be available throughout the day, with lunch included as part of your ticket.
Agenda
0900: Conference registration, refreshments, networking and exhibition
0930: Welcome to the Conference
Lieutenant Colonel C P M Anderson RA, Commander Catterick Garrison
Louisa Dobson, Head of Inspiring Choices
0945: 10 Years in Partnership
Philip Dent, Director, Service Children’s Progression Alliance
1000: Key note address
Calvin Bailey MBE MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Veterans and People)
1030: Break – refreshments, networking and exhibition
1045: Workshop session 1
Choice of workshops
1140: Workshop session 2
Choice of workshops
1225: Lunch
1310: In conversation with Armed Forces children and young people
1355: Panel Discussion
Panel Chair: Sarah Harder Collins, Deputy Director, Student Support and Success, University of Winchester and Service Children Progression Alliance, Chair
1440: Break – refreshments, networking and exhibition
1455: Workshop session 3
Choice of workshops
1550: Evaluation and closing comments
1600: Conference close
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Session 1 Workshops
How can practitioners better support post-16 students from military service families in their education journeys? This workshop will introduce participants to ‘Beyond the Barracks’, which is a collaborative project working with students from military service families in FE and HE education settings. Session facilitators will highlight the innovative activity facilitated by cross-sector partnerships, exploring the project's successes, challenges, and learning to date. Participants will have the opportunity to hear insights from all project partners and consider opportunities to enhance their own work with post-16 students from military service families.
Workshop Lead: Lowri Clarke, Widening Participation Officer, York St John University
Organisation(s):
- York St John University
- Inspiring Choices
- Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT)
- Service Children's Progression Alliance (SCiP Alliance)
- Askham Bryan
- York College
This workshop will explore how organisations can identify gaps in their delivery and use strategic partnerships to address them. Drawing on real-world examples, we will examine successful collaborations in neurodiversity support and data-driven funding delivery. Participants will be guided through the partnership journey, from identifying gaps and finding the right partners to developing service level agreements and refining delivery. The session will demonstrate how effective partnerships can enhance support for beneficiaries while providing meaningful insight to inform future development.
Workshop Leads:
- Frankie O'Neill, Senior Triage Caseworker, Naval Children's Charity
- Sara Smith, Naval Children's Charity
This workshop will explore how King’s Group Academies has developed a community hub model that connects schools, families and wider partners to support Service children and families more effectively. Using the King’s Academy Gosport Community Hub as a practical case study, the session will share learning from working collaboratively across schools, community organisations and local partners, including what partnership has made possible that individual organisations could not achieve alone. The workshop will also link this practice to the current schools white paper and its emphasis on schools and trusts as civic institutions rooted in their communities.
Organisation(s):
- King's Group Academies
- Gosport Community Hub
Workshop Lead:
- Lesley Ure, Community and Service Lead, King's Group Academies
This workshop explores genuine partnership between researchers, military-connected
young people (aged 14–17), and youth workers to co-design psychological screening
tools (ACEs and BCEs) that capture real time experiences of young people. Using Lundy's Model of Participation, we worked through young people's feedback but also had to preserve scientific rigor sometimes saying "no" to suggestions that would lose screening sensitivity. Feasibility testing at an Army youth residential confirmed the tools work. Participants will learn how to balance accessibility with validity and apply this framework to their own populations.
Workshop Leads:
- Dr Paul Watson, Associate Professor in Military Connected Children and Young People's Health and Well-being, Northumbria University
- Dr Faye Action, Anglia Ruskin University
- Rebecca Wakefield, Ministry Of Defence
Session 2 Workshops
How can we better support Service children to navigate the journey from education into fulfilling, sustainable employment?
Drawing on FEC’s Young People programme, this workshop explores what we are learning about the different barriers young people can face, from caring and financial responsibilities to additional needs, disrupted education, limited networks and work experience, and the challenges of entering the graduate labour market. Through client stories and examples of partnership with education providers and employers, we’ll explore how earlier more connected intervention can make a difference.
Workshop Leads:
- Kate Mai, National Employment Manager, Forces Employment Charity
- Leanne Burgon, Forces Employment Charity
This workshop explores how collaborative partnerships can transform SEND provision for Service children. Through the Garrison Assist Project (GAP), Catterick schools and specialists from a special school trust (Ascent Academies Trust) have worked together, and have, for example, established SENDCo networks, put in place specialist coaching, and are currently developing an innovative satellite classroom model that plans to bring special school expertise into a military community. We will share how expertise has flowed between mainstream and specialist settings, strengthening practice across both, while improving access to appropriate provision for children who might otherwise travel significant distances. Delegates will explore how similar partnerships could be developed within their own contexts.
Workshop Leads:
- Damien Chubb, CEO, Dales Academies Trust / Catterick GAP
- Rachel Hargreaves, Ascent Academies Trust
What is it like for children and families to experience an overseas assignment? Through the Valuing Forces Families Overseas programme, RAND Europe and the Families Federations have worked alongside Armed Forces families to better understand the overseas journey. This workshop will share findings, explore the opportunities and challenges associated with the overseas cycle and highlight how research, lived experience and partnership working are helping to improve support. Delegates will leave with practical insights into the experiences of Service families and consider the implications for supporting Service children who are about to go overseas and also those returning to the UK after a period abroad.
Workshop Leads:
- Rebecca Lovell, Head of Policy & Deputy CEO, Naval Families Federation
- Linda Slapakova, Naval Families Federation
- Sean Flanagan, Naval Families Federation
Discover how East Anglia Hub partners are stronger together than they are alone. Through initiatives such as Festival of Friends and Creative Forces Days, the hub model has increased access to opportunities, expertise and peer support for Service children, while strengthening collaboration between education providers and third sector organisations. This interactive workshop will explore the rationale behind hub operations, activity-level Theory of Change, evaluation approaches and key outcomes, as well as plans for sustaining impact. Delegates will leave with a practical framework for developing, evaluating and embedding collaborative, place-based initiatives that create lasting benefits for Service children and their communities.
Workshop Leads:
- Dr Katie Groves, Assistant Director of UK Student Recruitment & Widening Access, Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)
- Daniel Gobbitt, Make Happen
- Siobhan Cambridge, Make Happen
Session 3 Workshops
North Yorkshire Council's Service Children's Champion role was created to strengthen support for Service children through direct delivery, advocacy and partnership working. With one of the UK's largest Service child populations, North Yorkshire offers a powerful example of how schools, military partners, local authority services, community organisations, families and young people can work together to improve outcomes. This workshop will share practical examples of how collaboration has strengthened belonging, amplified children's voices and increased opportunities for participation, while also demonstrating how direct support and partnership working can achieve greater impact together.
Workshop Lead:
- Angela Campbell, Service Children's Champion, North Yorkshire Council,
Service Children in State Schools (SCISS) was formed in 2003 as a working group by the then Children's Education Advisory Service (now rebranded as MOD's Education Advisory Team). SCISS operates as a voluntary network of state-maintained schools across England with any number of Service children enrolled, led by a National Executive committee of volunteers. This workshop briefly summarises what SCISS has achieved to date, emphasising how partnership working has been central to its successes. There will also be an opportunity to reflect on recent examples of the Executive Committee’s work whilst engaging delegates in reflecting on potential future priorities.
Workshop Leads:
National Executive Advisory Committee members, Service Children in State Schools (SCISS):
- Matt Blyton
- Ian Mottram
- Steph Fawdry
Three Army Public Schools, an Army command and Educational Initiatives, an education organisation, came together in 2025-26 to bring personalised adaptive learning into these schools, and none of the three could have done it alone. In one school the partnership went far enough to institutionalise the programme into the curriculum, and with it came a shift from marks to learning outcomes as the measure that mattered. It also changed the narrative itself, from smart classrooms to personalised adaptive learning, new to these schools, especially in remote locations. Furthermore, it worked as an equaliser, reaching children from every socio-economic background. But we also looked honestly at where the partnership stopped: use fell away within months, and no record of what a child had learned travelled with them when the family moved on to the next posting, a gap that, in a country as mobile as India, only a national body can close.
Workshop Lead:
- Shruti Sanehwal, PhD Student, University of Oxford
This workshop tells the story of what happens when one organisation sees a gap, acts on conviction, and finds the right partner to build something that did not exist. In 2026 Anderson Education and the SCiP Alliance founded the Service Children in Boarding and Independent Schools Hub: a practitioner community of 28 schools and growing- across independent boarding, independent day, state boarding, and specialist SEN settings. Together they have built the most comprehensive practitioner evidence base for Service children in these settings that currently exists anywhere in the UK.
The session is not a presentation about the partnership. It is the partnership in action. Every person in the room contributes to a live evidence gathering exercise using the hub's own methodology. The evidence generated in the room sits alongside the hub's practitioner evidence from 28 schools. The overlap between the two is the defining moment of the session.
Workshop Lead:
- Jen Rehal, Marketing & Education Consultant, Anderson Education
- James Wilder, LVS Ascot
- Rebecca Chaplin, Dean Close
Book your place
Conference bookings are now open.