On Wednesday 11th November Newminster Middle School will be commemorating Remembrance Day with a whole school event. Each year group will be taking part in different WW1 and WW2 themed activities throughout the day.

For information about the day click ‘continue reading’.

Year 5

All of Year 5 will be walking up to the Cenotaph at Castle Bank next to Mafeking roundabout. They will take part in a special Remembrance Day ceremony led by Val Cowen.  The children will lay a poppy wreath on behalf of all of the children at Newminster Middle school and hold a minute’s silence at 11 o’clock.  Any parent, carer or grandparent that would like to join the children on the walk up to the Cenotaph would be most welcome.  

In the afternoon the Year 5 children will be making decorations for a VE celebration. They will be decorating their classrooms with handmade bunting and finding out about VE day and what people did to mark the day. Then they will enjoy a wonderful VE celebration party with their classmates.  We would be very grateful if the children could bring in a small amount of food for the VE party.  

Year 6

The Year 6 children will be taking part in the following activities throughout the day:

Make Do and Mend

We have a volunteer from the Women’s Institute coming into school for the day to work with the Year 6 children on this activity.  The students will be discovering all about clothes rationing during WW2 and the reasons behind the shortage of clothes to buy at that time.  They will be finding out about the “Make Do and Mend” campaign launched by the government to encourage the British people to recycle old clothing and repair their damaged garments.  The students will be having a go at darning old socks, sewing on buttons and patching up holes in trousers and jumpers!

Fitness for War

In this session the children will be put through their paces by Drill Sergeant Jenson.  They will experience drill practice and marching in unison, hopefully by the end of the session they will be looking like a troop of real WW2 soldiers off to battle.

Letters Home

Students will discover how important writing letters was to the soldiers on the front line and the families back home, awaiting their safe return.  They will read the final letter written by Corporal Matt Norris to his beloved wife Beatrice, before his death in the Battle of Monte Cassino.  The children will then write their own “Letters Home”.

War Time Songs

The children will learn about the significance of singing songs to keep up the moral of the soldiers on the front line and the families back home in Britain.  They will sing famous war time songs such as Pack up Your Troubles, It’s a Long Way to Tipperrary, Keep the Home Fires Burning and White Cliffs of Dover.

War Time Cookery 

The students will find out how the Women’s Institute played a vital role in a campaign to preserve locally grown, seasonal fruit when war broke out.  The children will use seasonal British apples to make a delicious table sauce.  The children will then decorate their own label and bottle the sauce in jam jars to take home with them!

 

Year 7

Year 7 are going on an adventure to Eden Camp, in North Yorkshire.  Eden Camp is an award winning open air museum that brings war time Britain to life.  We have been asked to take part in a special Remembrance Day ceremony at Eden Camp with the RAF.  A separate letter has been sent out to parents about this trip.  If any more parents would like to come with us on the visit they would be more than welcome.  Please contact Mrs Bowler via the school office.

Year 8

Year 8 students have been studying the impact WW2 had on the dawning of the computer age in their Computing lessons this term.  As an extension to their learning, they will be taking part in various war themed Remembrance Day activities throughout the day.  Each student will experience the following activities on a carousel:

 

The Enigma Machine

We have an educational outreach worker from Bletchley Park coming into school for the day with an actual WW2 Enigma Machine.  The students have been learning all about Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman and the cracking of the Enigma Code in their Computing lessons.  They will take part in a session delivered by Bletchley Park and will be able to have a close up look at The Enigma Machine as well as seeing how the machine actually worked.

 

Proggy Poppy Wreaths

In this session the children will be creating poppy wreaths using the traditional proggy method.  They will use different cuts and textures of red ribbon to create their own “Proggy Poppy”.  The poppies will all be pinned together to create a poppy wreath.  The students will also find out about the symbolism behind the poppy and why we still wear them as a mark of respect today.

 

World War 1 Artefacts

Newcastle University’s History Department will be sending in student ambassadors to deliver a session on Trench artefacts.  The children will discover, through close examination, the different artefacts that soldiers carried on their person during WW1 in the trenches.  They will also find out the significance of some of the pieces.

 

Trench Art
The children will learn about the trenches of WW1 through art.  They will explore art created by soldiers during their time in the trenches.  This session will give the students an insight into life in the Trenches through the eyes of the artists.  The children will then create their own Trench art pieces.

Woodhorn Colliery

An out – reach worker from Woodhorn Colliery will be in school delivering a session to the students which looks at archive sources about a local soldier and his journey to the front and what happened to him during WW1.