On Thursday 23 and Friday 24 May 2024, 90 Year 8 Historians took part in two days of activities in school based around the First World War, whilst some of their peers were on a residential trip to France and Belgium. We passionately believe that all pupils should have access to activities designed to enrich their curriculum and pupils were excellent across the two days of activities.

Year 8s completed a rotation of activities, including investigating the chain of events that led to WW1, producing propaganda, creating a newspaper front page focused on the end of WW1 and the peace that followed, including the Treaty of Versailles. Pupils also spent two hours researching and producing a tour guide to the key sites of WW1 and the War Graves that mark the sacrifice of those involved in the conflict. We were very pleased to be able to run special lessons in Maths and Science: in Science, pupils investigated infection and illness, including trench foot, whilst they sharpened their code-breaking skills in Maths.

To end the two days, our 90 Year 8 historians made their way to EA1 to watch the film 'War Horse' on the big screen. This fantastic interpretation of the First World War, based on Michael Morpurgo's novel, opens pupils’ eyes to the role of animals in conflict and presents the experience of both British and German soldiers in great detail.

These two days of enrichment were a great way to round off Year 8, before all our pupils moved up to the next academic year after the half term break. We were incredibly impressed by the maturity and diligence displayed by pupils across both days.

Mr Ferne, Head of Humanities