The Royal British Legion Scotland has launched a competition for P6 and P7 pupils, encouraging them to research their local war memorial which commemorates the sacrifice of First World War combatants. This forms part of RBLS work to mark the centenary of the start of the Great War next year.

Pupils are asked to record key information from their chosen memorial in their town or village; to research the stories behind the people and WW1 battles associated with the memorial; and to create a multimedia presentation about their findings.

The winning students will receive a trophy for their school and individual medals, and will travel to London to ‘Kip-on-a-ship’; an overnight stay in warship HMS Belfast on the Thames, one of the outposts of the Imperial War Museum.

Full details of this competition are available from the RBLS website Competition pages. Schools must register their interest, and the final deadline for submitting entries is the 3rd March 2014.

Many Scottish teachers have already started to help their pupils learn about World War One, the contributions made by Scots and the impacts on Scottish society. This competition will complement learning about a key period of Scottish history.

Teachers who are new to supporting pupil learning on this topic may find helpful several guides produced for schools. The Western Front Association offers a resource titled ‘A First World War war memorial study’, and the War Memorials Trust has a dedicated website titled ‘learn about war memorials’.