In the run-up to Remembrance Weekend and Armistice Day, the children have spent time this week listening to first-hand recollections of what is was like to live and fight in the trenches. We had also previously read poetry by Siegfried Sassoon and responded to a range of images from the Western Front.<\/p>\n
The children were tasked with writing a poignant WW1 poem that considers mood and atmosphere. We are proud of their results, particularly their ability to empathise with the situation the soldiers and their families found themselves in.<\/p>\n
We chose Edith Swandell’s to be read aloud in our Remembrance Assembly:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYour Country Needs You!\u201d<\/p>\n
the posters said,<\/p>\n
I repeated the words over and over<\/p>\n
As I sat in bed.<\/p>\n
It will be a short war I would say,<\/p>\n
I might even be back later that day.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The day we arrived,<\/p>\n
Knee deep in mud,<\/p>\n
Showered by rain and our neighbours’ blood,<\/p>\n
The crimson skies called out their alarm,<\/p>\n
As rifles and machine guns aimed for harm.<\/p>\n
None of us expected it this way,<\/p>\n
All of the things we saw that first day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By the warmth of a candle I sat waiting,<\/p>\n
How much more could I handle?<\/p>\n
But we – daring men,<\/p>\n
We stood our ground,<\/p>\n
For all we wanted was for our country to be proud.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Months later,<\/p>\n
With many lucky retreats,<\/p>\n
I waited to go over,<\/p>\n
Although I was weak.<\/p>\n
I took one step towards the foe,<\/p>\n
And all-of-a-sudden, my body fell low.<\/p>\n
They couldn’t help,<\/p>\n
They weren’t allowed,<\/p>\n
But still I tried to stay strong and proud.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The courageous soldiers who fell for us,<\/p>\n
So we could live freely.<\/p>\n
They gave their tomorrow so that we could have our today.<\/p>\n
Edith Swandell, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the run-up to Remembrance Weekend and Armistice Day, the children have spent time this week listening to first-hand recollections of what is was like to live and fight in the trenches. We had also previously read poetry by Siegfried Sassoon and responded to a range of images from the Western Front. The children were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1619"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stpeterswaterlooville.co.uk\/year6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}