Kathryn and Steven Purchase from History Alive joined us today for an interactive workshop on World War 2. History Alive educate & entertain with the aim of stirring the children’s imagination and stimulating a lasting interest in historic topics.
Kathryn took P5 – 7 through an immersive experience on how WWII affected the lives of everyone from 1939 to 1945. The session was delivered with sensitivity at an age appropriate level.
We were taken on a journey through many aspects of WWII:
- Legacy of WWI & Timeline of events leading to WWII
- Allies and Axis
- WWII Preparations, Gas maks, Blackout strategies – enforcing wardens, light blocking curtains, and using glow in the dark paint on bollards, lampposts and even horses and cows!
- The Blitz – Shelters and Blitz spirit
- Evacuation – linking with helping Ukrainians refugees today
- Conscription, Reserved Occupations and Volunteer roles
- Propaganda & slogans – Messages the Government wanted to give
- Rationing & Identify Cards – why it was needed and how it operated (linked with similarities during lockdown)
- Make Do & Mend – Recycling, sharing and reusing
- Entertainment & culture – Americans Over Here
- Men & Women in WWII – Armed Forces, Land Girls and the Home Front
- Invasions and Battles – Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo), Operation Sealion
- Winston Churchill – His strategies and his famous speeches
- The Geneva Convention protecting people’s rights
- Our local area and WWII – Local anti-aircraft guns at Cairnryan, practice bombing ranges etc.
- Demob life – Rebuilding, the changed role of women in society, the benefit system & the creation of the NHS
We listened to a broadcast made by Neville Chamberlin declaring war.at 11am on the 3rd of September 1939. 20 minutes after Chamberlin spoke, an air raid siren sounded, testing the systems. Kathryn linked the learning to the Covid Lockdown to allow children to make personal connections on how restrictions affected daily life.
Men aged between 18 and 40 were called up to fight or work in the coal mines to keep Britain’s homes and factories fuelled. Others had skills that were needed at home which were called reserved occupations.
On 7th September 1940, the Luftwaffe (the German airforce), began their Blitzrieg bombing London and other cities in the UK including Scotland. The bombings came night after night and thousands of people lost their lives.
The children were stunned by the quantities of cheese and eggs and other foodstuffs per person during rationing, particularly the 85 grams of sweets per week!. They said they feel very lucky with the choice and quantities we enjoy today! It was good to hear that every child was given a hot school dinner each day that wasn’t rationed. This was a great way to help ensure that no child went hungry.
After our very interesting information session, the children had the opportunity to explore the vast array of WWII artefacts and get ‘hands-on’. The boys and girls were so engrossed and were fascinated with all the memorabilia.
Lacey – “Today was great as we got to learn more things about WWII that we didn’t know.”
Katie – “It was so much fun and I loved being able to dress up and look at all the artefacts.”
Lewis – “I find all of this kind of thing really interesting and it will help me with my personal project on Loch Ryan in WWII.”
Atticus – “It was really fun as we could see what it was like back then and compare it to today. It was very different. It reminds me of Covid lockdown in some ways.”
It was yet another truly fabulous workshop from Kathryn and Steven.
Thank you!
Thank
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