Chief Executive (RCET)

The Royal Caledonian Education Trust (RCET) is the only charity in Scotland dedicated solely to supporting Armed Forces children to reach their full potential.

We do this through the following services:

Children & Family Support Service which provides financial assistance, advice and emotional support to predominantly veteran families and their children with their education and wider wellbeing. We do this through a variety of funds such as our School Children’s Fund, College & University Support Fund, a Crisis Intervention Fund, a Family Time Respite Break Fund and a Young Carers Programme.

Education Programme which exists to mitigate the barriers and disadvantages that can prevent Armed Forces children from reaching the same levels of attainment, and progression into Further & Higher Education as their civilian peers. To mitigate these barriers we provide training, support and resources to educationalists and other professionals so that they can better understand and support the unique challenges that Armed Forces children face. We also provide strategic leadership with partners across the UK to create positive pathways and address attainment gaps ensuring that Armed Forces children have every opportunity to reach their full potential.

Youth Participation Programme which puts the voices of Armed Forces children and young people at the heart of everything that we do. Through our service we empower young people to have the confidence, skills and opportunities to make progress towards the changes that they want to see for, and in their own communities. We currently have 1 National Forum (Military Youth Voice Scotland) & 7 Local Forums across Scotland.

Your Mind Matters Wellbeing Programme launching in September of 2020 is a brand new service in partnership with SAMH which will support Armed Forces children and young people to co-design digital wellbeing tools to better support their mental health. The Programme will also include a pilot of face-to-face wellbeing support in the West of Scotland.

Policy & Influencing Programme aims to link our evidence base rooted in the voices of Armed Forces children and young people and communicate this with policy-makers. Through using our knowledge and the experiences of Armed Forces children, and young people we aim to be the strongest and most effective voice for them, positively influencing public policy and service development.

National Transitions Programme: Since 2012 we have seconded a member of staff to the Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES) as their National Transitions Officer. This post works strategically with local authorities across Scotland creating content for families based specifically around the practicalities of transitions between education systems and encouraging local authorities to identify Armed Forces children and young people through SEEMIS (Scottish Local Authorities Database) and other avenues so they can be better supported.

Further details can be found as follows: