Welcome to Tedder's Dandelion Club!

Dandelion Club is a weekly lunchtime club which supports children who have a parent on deployment for either a long or short period of time. It's an opportunity for the children to spend time with others who are experiencing the same situation. The children enjoy spending time with each other and many have said it really helps to know they are not the only one.

At Dandelion Club we have Cookie who is our worry monster friend. Cookie comes to club every week to offer additional support and lots of hugs. We celebrate Birthdays and we even have our own Dandelion Club birthday card. We also have our own superstar certificate and give the opportunity to make welcome home banners and posters for the returning parent. The sessions are available for as long as the deployment/absence lasts and can be attended weekly or on an ad hoc basis.

The children enjoy a varied range of activities including:

• Decorating their own personal diaries to share all the exciting activities that they do at Dandelion Club
• Creative projects to give to their parent
• Writing a letter or bluey to their parent
• Design their own postcards to send to their parent
• Story time
• Dance / Sport Activities
• Baking / Food decorating
• Themed parties (Halloween, Christmas)

Whilst deployment is a fact of life for service families, each time a parent is away - whether it's for a few weeks or for months - there will be an emotional impact. There are lots of ways which we might be able to help - for example, if the parent who remains at home is finding it difficult to hear them read as often as usual - please do talk with us so we can support you.  

If you feel your child would benefit from Dandelion Club, please complete a registration form which is available from the school office or can be found below.  Your child will then be allocated a place on our club register.

Each term Dandelion Club will have a newsletter detailing all the exciting sessions that we have planned, please find this terms newsletter below.

Dandelion Club has found the resources from Little Troopers and Reading Force really helpful in supporting the children. More information can be found here: https://www.readingforce.org.uk and
https://www.littletroopers.net.

We have a great partnership with the HIVE Information Officer at RAF Digby, if you need support in registering for additional support with deployment trips and packs, please get in contact with us.

We really value feedback from parents regarding the impact the club is having on their children as this enables us to further develop the support we can offer your child. Please find our feedback form below.