A girl from Woolwich whose dad serves in the British army has been awarded a medal by military children’s charity, Little Troopers.

Eve-Mai Little, 10, has been to five different schools in the last six years in Germany, Cyprus, Wales and now England, as her family have moved around due to her dad’s job with the army.

Her dad regularly works away from home on military operations, missing special occasions like Christmas and Eva-Mai’s birthday.

He has been on exercise since the beginning of this year and isn’t due home until April but he will then deploy overseas for six months from August.

On top of the challenges of growing up in the armed forces, Eva-Mai suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic condition which affects her connective tissue and can cause pain when doing everyday tasks like writing at school.

Eva-Mai started at Christchurch Primary School in September and found it hard at first being one of just six military children in the school, as her peers couldn’t understand what it was like to have a parent away on exercise or deployment and missing important events both inside and outside of school.

Her mum, Lyndsey Little, nominated her for the Little Troopers award.

She said: “Eva-Mai is such a star who takes everything in her stride.

Have you got a story for us? You can contact us here.

Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Sign up to our newsletters to get updates sent straight to your inbox.

“This year has been particularly difficult as it’s the first time she’s struggled to settle at a new school and make new friends and it’s been especially hard with her dad being away.

“Her EDS makes moving school more of a challenge as we have to explain everything again to her new teachers and ask if she can use a computer rather than writing and it’s sometimes difficult for her classmates to understand.

“The school have put things in place to support forces families including an after school club, so that has been really helpful.”

Eva-Mai’s older sister also passed away before she was born which was very difficult for the family.

She is often asked if she has any siblings when she moves to a new school and always speaks about her sister up in heaven.

For these reasons, Eva-Mai will receive a special medal, certificate and a £50 cinema voucher from the charity Little Troopers.

Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, the charity, said: “Moving between multiple schools can be really hard for military children.

“Not only do they have to say goodbye to their friends and make new ones each time but there are academic challenges too, as schools deliver the curriculum differently, leaving children with gaps in their learning or having to adapt to doing things differently.

“It can be especially hard for military children to move to a school where there are no other children who understand what it’s like to have a parent deployed on active service.

“To cope with so much change on top of having a painful health condition is really tough and we think that children like Eva-Mai deserve recognition for coping with so much challenge and change.

“We hope that the medal helps her to realise that she is a special little trooper and that we all think she is amazing.”