Armistice Day
The 11th November 2014 is historical both due to it being the centenary of the start of World War 1 and the 70th anniversary of D-Day from World War 2.
The Dassett World War 1 Day was a huge success, with the children resplendent in their costumes. We had nurses and soldiers, pilots and land girls. It seems that The Dassett, being so rural, was also the destination for many evacuees from the cities and we all had a fantastic day. Children worked on poetry, heard about The Christmas Truce and football match from 1914, created many blood red poppies and thought about how to represent 888246, the number of British soldiers who died during World War 1, using poppies and proportion and they all observed the silence at 11am. The main theme was about why we need to remember the events that have happened in past and current wars to make a better present and future for us and our children. Children learnt about stories from Flanders Field and one child also brought in an air tank from a crashed Messerschmidt aircraft that his granddad found when he was a boy!
On the 10th we all participated in with a live video link of a national school assembly from The Tower of London, saw the spectacle of the ceramic poppies and stood in silence as the last post was played. It was all very moving and I am sure that all children will have a better understanding of what Armistice Day is about as a result of the events this year.
