During Term 3 we have had five of our Service students from Year 7 visit RAF Benson Primary School every Friday morning. This has been part of an ongoing project called the Festival of Friends. There are over 20 schools in the Oxfordshire area who are running their own projects with a view to supporting service students effectively.

Our project has been to listen to Year 2 students read on a one-to-one basis. The purpose for this was to make the students think about the skills needed in order to be an effective mentor to someone. Over the 6 weeks they have formed a special bond with lots of the Year 2 students and have really shown an ability to support, empathise and encourage.

Mr Lyons (Services Champion) is hoping that this will form a bigger project next year where they will mentor the current Year 6 Service students who will be joining us in September, in order to make their transition into secondary school smoother.

The celebration event for the Festival of Friends is being held at Oxford University on 22nd June 2023. More information and pictures will appear after this date.