Education and the Armed Forces Covenant
The Department for Education (DfE) supports the Armed Forces Covenant by:
- Providing Service Pupil Premium for children whose parents currently serve within the armed forces, and those children who have been recorded as having service child status at any point in the last six years
- Allowing primary schools the ability to go over the capped 30 student infant class size for an armed forces child moving into area outside of the normal admissions round
- Allocating a school place in advance for families moving into an area provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date and a unit postal address/quartering address
The core principles of the AFC are that no Service family should face disadvantage as a result of Service. Service families have equal access to school places alongside other families in a given area and there are no special provisions under the AFC.
Families should be offered a school place for their children of statutory school age should they request places however there is no duty to comply with parental preference.
Please note that the AFC will not guarantee that Service children get their first choice of school or be spared the inconvenience of children from the same family allocated places in different schools.