We are the Washington School War History and European Culture group, this year we have learned all about WW1 in many different ways. We have met after school twice each week for the whole year and have looked into a lot of aspects of the war; both the effects in Europe and on the Home Front, how this influenced life and families, what life was like in the trenches, how remembrance day started and what changed in countries after the war ended. We held a wartime tea dance for some of the elderly members of the community, made trench art with Newcastle University, visited local war memorials and left candles, interviewed British Legion veterans, wrote poetry and letters home from the trenches, worked with the CWGC and even visited the Somme.

Researching local soldiers who attended our school eventually took us to the Somme and Thiepval to pay our respects. We used every subject on the curriculum to link into the war, which gave us a different way to experience learning. We have enjoyed this so much we would like to continue the project and look at WW2, the Falklands, Northern Ireland and more!

The money we are fundraising would go towards funding our next historical wartime trip with the British Legion Remembrance Tours and to allow us to run some of the learning experiences like the tea dance for our older community residents. We have already started fundraising so that every student who wants to join in with our project can afford the visits, we know that they cost a lot of money but we think it is really important to remember our fallen heroes, and use this to expand our learning experiences outside of the classroom.

Thank you for helping us achieve our goal.