Year 6 pupils came to school today dressed as World War II evacuees! The costumes looked amazing and the pupils were amazing at acting in role!

Firstly, they took part in a role play scenario, attached brown label tags to themselves as they would have done in the 1940’s, if they were being evacuated to safe areas; i.e. the countryside. Next they boarded the train, some of the passengers felt a bit sick, while others had a munch on some jam sandwiches they had packed in their cases! After a long journey the evacuees arrived in the school hall, weary tired and bit anxious. Then came quite a shock, adults would have walked up and down choosing children to billet (look after).  Sometimes families would be split up or children were left unwanted and feeling rejected. We discussed how this would have made evacuees feel.

Back in the classroom,  pupils created some artwork based on the Blitz (bombing in London that the evacuees were finding safety from). They also created ‘Blackout’ poetry based on text from our class reader – ‘Hitler’s Canary’. In maths, they learnt how to read co-ordinates, which would be useful when airmen took part in bombing raids.

Two historians from the Museum of London joined us for a workshop during the afternoon. They brought with them primary and secondary sources based on the Blitz bombing. They also told the story and pupils watched a video about a Blitz witness speaking about what life was like in East London during World War II. The behaviour of the pupils was exemplary and they asked lots of good questions and learnt about the Blitz in detail.