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Armistice Week summary of events

Posted: 15th November 2018

Middle and Upper School

The week started with a talk in Assembly looking at daily life for a Prep boy in the ‘Golden Summer’ of 1913 and the contrast with 1918, after the war.

That day the boys were offered Trench cake, using a WW1 recipe, for snacks at morning break and at lunch they had a choice of Bully beef, a beef stew with root vegetables, from a WW1 recipe, that the men would have eaten in the trenches, or a vegetable pie.

Art

See articles in Comet.

DT

The Year 8 have been looking at the Memorials of WW1 and creating their own.

Maths

Year 5 made poppies from mathematical shapes on their IPads.

Years 6 to 8 entered the Infographics Challenge – a competition to produce a poster with information showcasing one aspect of WW1 using images from the Internet and information form their WW1 booklets.

English

Wrote poems based on life on the Western Front using images of the front and information in the booklet, studied Wilfred Owen’s poem Dulce at Decorum Est and used it to produce a description of life in the Trenches.

History

Constructed a WW1 trench on the History floor and looked at the life of a soldier in the trenches.

French

The boys looked at the life of a Poilou and the battle of Verdun.

Science

Looked at shell water under a microscope to see if it was fit to drink.

RS

Debated the issue of Conscientious Objectors and the role of women in WW1.

Music

The boys composed the music to accompany WW1 songs and poems, which will be played in a lop on Friday when the parents can come and see the hall.

PE

The boys experienced a WW1 drill session.

Library

There was a display of books and stories about the Great War mounted on two desks that were in use in this school at that time, along with a replica Lee Enfield rifle. The books were much read. Book Club this week is looking at All Quiet on the Western Front.

Lower School

They made clay figures, each boy was assigned the information about an Old Boy or a Member of Staff who lost their life in the service of this country. They wrote poems to write on the boxes for their figures and carried out the activities on various aspects of WW1 in their booklets. I assemblies they learnt about WW1 and the significance of the poppies. At the end of the week, when the boys assembled for the two minutes silence, there was a greater sense of respect as the boys understood why they were silent to remember.

Pre-Prep

Made the large poppy which is hanging in the hall from various bits and bobs that were red, black and green. On Friday they had an assembly about the armistice, the people and animals in WW1 and why we wear poppies.

Quotes

The activities during the week engaged the interest of the boys and they learnt a lot about the Great War of 1914-1918 which is reflected in their comments below.

Year 8

This was one of the best weeks of my life because I knew so little about WW1 before. I found the information fascinating and enjoyed experiencing crawling through a trench at first hand. It was fascinating to learns about a war which still within the living memory of our grandparents who knew family relatives who had fought in the war.

I found the week very informative and I learnt a lot about life in the trenches. The booklet was full of interesting information and I was surprised by the huge numbers involved in supplying the front. It was a really great week.

Year 7

Learning about the Great War was quite emotional because so many died, and learning how many Old Boys and former Members of Staff had died. We really liked the trench experience and finding out how the soldiers lived for four years.

It was really interesting to learn about gas warfare and it was a surprise to see how many Old Boys and Members of Staff had died. The number of plaques on the Memorial Wall realise that. The statistics were really interesting and the numbers were so big.

Year 6

We found it really interesting to we have never learnt about wars before and we enjoyed learning about what happened at that time. I never knew how WW1 started.

I really enjoyed using the information on the booklet on Infographics in maths.

Year 5

Really liked making the tiles at break and lunchtime, they were for Love, Honour and Remembrance. I didn’t know that Old Boys from this school had been killed in WW1 and I am really proud of them.

I liked crawling along the trench with the rats, the sounds and the smells, as it showed you what it was like.

I did not know about trench foot or shell-shock. It was really sad that the death of just two people (Franz Ferdinand and his wife) led to the death of so many millions of men.

I was shocked to learn how many died, it was really sad.

Year 4

We have learnt a lot and I liked having a quiet time to think about the war during the silence. I was really surprised to find out that Old Boys and members of staff had fought in the war and how many had died. We learnt a lot of information we did not know before.

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