Lest we Forget - Bluecoat Primary School & Nursery

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              Lest we Forget
Rationale
Covering both World Wars, this topic explored how a world twice came to
war. Not only did we learn about the lead up to the events, but we
explored how people’s daily lives were affected by the conflict and how
both wars were fought.

           Creativity                     Independence                       Aspiration
                                                                   We saw WWI & II planes and
Blitz artwork using pastels                                        tanks and handed real-life
Created a shoebox trench          We wrote a mini non-fiction      World War artefacts.
model                             book about the WWI trenches.
Study of Paul Nash’s artwork                                       Code cracking!
and his depiction of WWI
                                                                   Learn to cook some World War
                                                                   recipes.
Spark                                              Learning Celebration
We visited the Imperial War Museum in Duxford! We had a special screening of Goodnight Mr
As part of this, we saw a range of aircraft and    Tom.
vehicles used during the two world wars. We        We contributed to a local exhibition using our
learnt about Duxford’s history as an air base and learning.
how its inhabitants prepared themselves for war.
We learnt about WWII and D-Day in an
interactive exhibition. We got to try on soldiers’
uniforms and gas masks.

Role Playing/Life Skills/Real Learning            Community Cohesion
Cooked trench cake                                We took part in a lantern making workshop for
Evacuee role playing day                          the Stamford Georgian Festival’s lantern parade
Experienced an air raid                           The World Wars and Stamford
Growing vegetables                                We’ve shared our learning through social media
Construction skills                               and the school blog.
                                                  The Royal British Legion of Stamford visited us to
                                                  see and hear about our learning about WWI.
                                                  We took part in Stamford College’s Careers
                                                  Construction Day.

Out of Classroom Opportunities                    Home Learning Activity
Visited Duxford                                   Find out about Stamford during the world wars.
We dug trenches in the field                      Can you find memorials in town?
We cooked in the kitchen                          Reading a range of World War fiction.
Stamford and the World Wars – going into town     Create a model of an Anderson shelter.
Planting and growing vegetables
We were ‘evacuated’ and had to be paraded
around the hall in front of potential adults we
may live with!

Computing and E-safety
We have been focusing on e-safety skills. We participated in a workshop delivered by Lincolnshire
County Council’s Safer Lincolnshire Partnership.
We revisited SMART rules for keeping safe and as part of that looked at online ‘etiquette’ which will
also help us when we communicate online.
We revised and revisited our coding skills ready to move on to more challenging algorithms and
coding skills.
Links to discrete subjects: Literacy Maths RE Music MFL PHSE
English – We have written a flashback narrative inspired by The Piano. We read Goodnight Mr Tom
        and wrote a formal letter based on the first chapter, newspaper articles (assassination of
        Franz Ferdinand). We’ve written a mini-non-fiction book about trenches and improved and
        written up the recipe trench cake. We created an information leaflet about how to stay safe
        during an air raid. We did a unit of writing on diary writing, using Flossie Albright’s Secret
        War Diary as inspiration. We retold the story of The Christmas Truce.

Maths –Statistics study comparing values linked to our study of the Great Powers in Europe (place
        value revision). When we cooked our trench cake, we had to accurately measure liquids and
        ingredients. As part of our DT work, we’ve been measuring to the nearest cm and decimal.
During our light study we measured the height of shadows. We used our knowledge of conversions
        and decimal place value for accurate measurements. We also used our arithmetic skills to
        investigate hypotheses (e.g. if you double the distance, the shadow will… etc.).

History – we covered a range of learning in our topic. We found out why there may be tensions
        between countries and how their economic and political situations contributed to this. We
        analysed and discussed the reasons for why WWI & 2 started. We learnt about propaganda
        and how it functions. We analysed various sources in order to learn more about history,
        looking at written sources, sources from people and information posters/leaflets. We looked
        at and handled artefacts. We compared and discuss the changes between 1914 and 1939.
        We found out about how global war affected our country and Stamford town.

Geography – We looked at the comparison of changes to country borders/countries within Europe
       from 1914 to present day, by examining border changes and discussing why this happened
       according to what we learnt was happening at the time. We used a combination of old and
       modern maps of Stamford to locate air raid shelters and sirens which existed during WWII.

Science – periscopes were used during the wars (unit of study on light). We created our own
        periscopes, and investigated light. We investigated the creation of shadows to explore the
        relationship between light sources and objects. We learnt about the importance of
        encryption during the wars, which lead us to learning about circuits. We learnt the scientific
        symbols for electrical circuit components and learnt how to identify whether lights would be
        on or off depending on the drawing of circuits and components used. We investigated how
        components in a circuit are affected by certain variables, such as a the number of cells or
        number of particular components.

DT – we created shoebox trenches. We had to create sturdy trench walls, selecting materials
       carefully which would strengthen the structures. We used a variety of tools including craft
       knives and saws to put together our various elements. We then did an evaluative piece of
       writing, seeking the opinions of others to help us identify strengths and areas of
       developments in our design work.

Music – we created our own piece of music which reflected an air raid. We had to compose a piece,
thinking in particular about volume, dynamics and tempo. We performed our pieces to our peers.

PSHE – We read There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom and used this to discuss peer relationships,

tolerance, and mental wellbeing as we discussed the main character’s emotions throughout the
book.

Dance – we created a drama-dance piece which told the story of an air raid attack. We learnt to do
the Charleston which in our story was then interrupted by an air raid attack. When then told the
story of war through dance.

British Values
Through a couple of the texts we’ve explored throughout this topic (There’s a Girl in the Boy’s
Bathroom- a non-war text, Private Peaceful, Goodnight Mr Tom), we have talked about tolerance
and mutual respect.
We learnt about Remembrance Day and why this is important to Britain. The Royal British Legion of
Stamford visited us to see and hear about our learning about WWI.

Promoting Health and Wellbeing
In P.E. we learnt tag rugby, focusing in particular on passing through team work and communication.
We have been swimming this term.
In dance, we created a dance which depicted a war time story.
War time recipes and rationing– looking at diets as part of this.
We took part in our Breakfast Day workshops, learning where our food comes from. We learnt about
balanced diets, how sausages are made, and about the work of a farmer. Throughout the
experience, we learnt about where our food originates and the importance of a healthy diet.

Steps to success
We understood key differences between the two wars.
We learnt what Europe was like before WWI and the tensions between countries.
We read and wrote about the conditions of life in trenches.
We have explored why people volunteered to go to war.
We analysed propaganda to understand how people were encouraged to contribute to the war
effort.
We compared different sources and understood why some sources differ.
We learnt how the Treaty of Versaille and the rise of Hitler led to WWII.
We ‘experienced’ a ‘day in the life of’ an evacuee.
We read a range of war literature, including historical sources, information texts and fiction texts.
We learnt about the Blitz.

Shoebox trenches

                                                          Imperial War Museum (Duxford)
“I really enjoyed watching the planes take off at Duxford.”
“I got to see the plane my grandad flew! Also, it’s not every day you see a tank.”

                                                            Digging trenches
“I found it particularly interesting when we learnt about what it was like for WWI soldiers to live in
the trenches every day.”

Evacuee Experience Day - “My favourite part was
becoming an evacuee for the day. I was sent to the countryside to live on a farm!”