The British Families Education Service (BFES) was an organisation set up by the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

in 1946 to run schools for the children of British military and government personnel serving in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

History

Prior to 1946, Army Education Corps was responsible for the training of teachers (

Queen's Army Schoolmistresses The Queen's Army Schoolmistresses were female military schoolteachers who assisted the Royal Army Educational Corps and its predecessors in teaching the children of soldiers in British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare fo ...

) to teach soldiers' children at garrisons. With the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the establishment of the British Army on the Rhine as part of the Allied occupation of Germany, personnel were allowed to bring their families over through "Operation Union". This presented a problem for the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

as these children needed to attend school. BFES was established by the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

in cooperation with the War Office and

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. The first school officially opened by the BFES was

Prince Rupert School Prince Rupert School was a secondary school in Rinteln, Lower Saxony, Germany, and was operated by the Service Children's Education for children of military personnel and its employees of the former British sector of West Germany. Over the ye ...

, then located at the coastal town of

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

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s were asked to aid in the recruitment of teachers to the newly opened schools in Germany. Two other boarding schools were open during the 1950s. One at Hamm, and another (King Alfred's School) at Plon in Northern Germany. This second school was originally a German naval cadet training centre. During the period 1957–1959, it housed some 700 pupils - half boys, half girls - providing wonderful facilities. At the end of the school year in 1959, it was formally handed back to the German Navy. Over the years, the BFES and its later incarnations opened schools at

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

bases around the world, such as in

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and

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Later years

During the early 1970s, BFES became the Service Children's Education Authority (SCEA), an agency overseen by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. In 1989 it came under a new administration and was renamed Service Children's Schools (SCS) before adopting its current name Service Children's Education (SCE).

References

Defence agencies of the United Kingdom Education in the United Kingdom Education in Germany International schools in Germany {{UK-edu-stub

History

Later years

See also

References