Photos by PR4Photos

Earth worms and Little Troopers were the main topics of discussion when Bishop Hugh Nelson visited King Charles School in Falmouth this week.

There was a warm welcome in every classroom for Bishop Hugh and Diocesan Director of Education (and former King Charles headteacher) Lee Moscato, as they toured the school with Head of School Lindsey Mackenzie.

Pupils were eager to show what they were working on, and Bishop Hugh was able to get up close and possibly more personal than he would have liked with earth worms as he joined early years pupils learning about the creatures’ lifecycle.

After leading a collective worship themed around ‘trust’, Bishop Hugh then joined the Little Troopers group to hear about their experiences as children of military families.

Speaking after his visit, Bishop Hugh, who is also the Bishop to the Armed Forces, said: “I had the best time visiting King Charles School. I was inspired by what I saw, and we will be working to encourage schools across Cornwall to run groups of this kind.”

Little Troopers is a national charity supporting children with one or both parents serving in the British Armed Forces. These children face unique challenges including repeated separation of varying lengths of time from their serving parent(s) plus frequent home and school moves. The charity ensures all Little Troopers have access to resources and support.

King Charles’ group was set up in 2019 by Lee during his time as headteacher. He said: “King Charles engaged with the charity Little Troopers when we recognised a need to provide something more and specific to those pupils with a serving parent in the forces. We found the support from the charity excellent, and they were so impressed with what the school was doing that it became a case study of best practice.”

Kernow Learning Multi Academy Trust, of which King Charles is a part, soon became the first trust to offer this support in all its schools.

Lee added: “This visit was first and foremost for the bishop to see the work of one of our church schools in action and secondly as Bishop to the Armed Forces, to see how the support for pupils and families is impacting in this school and how we can learn from it.

“The visit really speaks into two of our strategic commitments – Joining the DoTS (Diocese of Truro Schools) – putting the work of DoTS on the map and sharing this with others.  Secondly, Powerful Partnerships – this is exciting as this is likely to lead to a very powerful partnership between the Local Authority, the Little Troopers charity, a Multi Academy Trust, and our diocese, working together to provide to service families and their children across the Duchy. I’m particularly excited to see how the work of our church schools will impact across all schools in the Duchy.”