Golden Years

 

BFES was established by the British Government with the first schools opening in war-torn Germany in November 1946 under the direction of John Trevelyan CBE.

In the late 1960s teachers and officers employed under the auspices of the three Service Education Corps (Army, Navy & Royal Air Force) were brought together under the umbrella organisation Service Children's Education Authority (SCEA). SCEA was headed by a military Controller (Colonel or equivalent) who changed every two years. In North-West Europe, schools were operated by Service Children's Schools (SCS-NWE).  In 1996 SCEA and SCS-NWE  combined as Service Children's Education (SCE). In the 1980s the organisation had schools and offices in 127 locations world-wide.  Some three-quarters of these were in West Germany.

An SCE Training Day

An extensive archive of BFES, SCEA, SCS & SCE material is maintained with the services of professional archivists at the Institute of Education, part of University of London.  School log-books, where they have been salvaged, are held at the National Army Museum in Chelsea.