Year 6 are currently reading the book ‘Shackleton’s Journey’ about Earnest Shackleton’s journey to reach the South Pole. They have researched what each member of the crew was called and then written a short biography about that crew member.

They were surprised to learn that the cook had to devise nutritional meals on a fire, using mouldy biscuits, that the men had to live and entertain themselves in months of darkness on the Antarctic tundra and that they took 69 dogs with them to pull the sledges!

This week they have looked at Shackleton’s original advert (in a national newspaper at the time) and written letters of application to join his crew on the Endurance. The letters listed personal attributes of being able to fish, hunt animals, navigate by the stars, possessing first aid knowledge and most importantly, their ability not to snore so that everyone could get a good night’s sleep.

The pupils have also redesigned the front cover of the text, using the concentric circle design they have inserts and drawn characters from the book, animals who inhabit Antarctica in cool colours to represent the freezing climate.