moving on

right, back to the catching up. I enjoy looking back sometimes at things we did in past years and that is why I feel the need to go back and make sure I put everything in so in the future I can look back.......still with me?

 Back at School in September I  took two classes over two days to a whole day workshop at Hollingworth Lake.

We looked at old photos from the summer of 1914 when the whole area was an army training camp.

 Then we went into the woods to make shelters and cook on an open fire!

The children loved it. A whole day roaming the woods and building shelters, helping make a vegetable soup and eating it with hot chocolate and a biscuit......the adults loved it too!

of course there was a bit of work to be done!

 Then on another day I went to Liverpool with class 2

Can you see the Dazzle ship in the dry dock?

We had a workshop at the Maritime Museum then a little walk around the docks.

The children loved this 'Pirate Ship'

This is one of my year 6 pupils work. We traced some old photos of WW1 soldiers and he put shading onto his tracing, I think it looks great.
I am going to just jump forward again now.......
This year I helped organise a special service in church on Remembrance day.

We have always observed a minutes silence at school at 11am on the 11th of November if we are in school but as we are commemorating the start of the First World War at school we decided to do the service at church....it has been a bit stressful trying to organise everything but it went really well.

It was a cold grey day, the whole school, children and staff walked up the cobbled lane to church. We had two hymns, a poem called The Spirit recited by our Year 5 and 6 children.

When there ain’t no gal to kiss you,

And the postman seems to miss you,

And the fags have skipped an issue,

Carry on.

When ye’ve got an empty belly,

And the bulley’s rotten smelly,

And you’re shivering like a jelly,

Carry on.

When the Boche has done your chum in,

And the sergeant’s done the rum in,

And there ain’t no rations comin’,

Carry on.

When the world is red and reeking,

And the shrapnel shells are shrieking,

And your blood is slowly leaking,

Carry on.

When the broken battered trenches,

Are like the bloody butchers’ benches,

And the air is thick with stenches,

Carry on.

Carry on,

Though your pals are pale and wan,

And the hope of life is gone,

Carry on.

For to do more than you can,

Is to be a British man,

Not a rotten ‘also ran,’

Carry on..

We had a roll call of the names of the fallen from both world wars read by our Head Boy and Head Girl, prayers and readings and lots of members of the public attended as well as mums, dads and other family members.
Just before 11am we gathered the children (rehearsed the day before!) around 22 graves identified as resting places of some of the fallen in the church yard and after the last post (by a member of the village band) and a minutes silence the children laid crosses on each grave. Lots of people said how much they enjoyed it and the children were excellent, I was very proud of them.
This next lot of photos are of a local Private School I drive past every day....I loved their take on the poppy installation at the Tower of London.