On Wednesday we spent the morning visiting various places in Lerwick as part of our WW1 topic.

We began with a visit to the Anderson High School where we met with Mr. Jon Sandison. Mr. Sandison shared with us details of his own Grandad and his involvement in WW1, he also highlighted some of the roles that Shetlanders adopted during the war.

Through his teaching we now have a greater understanding of the sacrifices Shetland went through in these hard times. It has also given us names and dates that we will be looking into further throughout our topic.

The Anderson High School

After thanking Mr. Sandison we left to visit the Methodist Church in Lerwick. As this is the centenary year the church were hosting an “Experience Remembrance” event. The pupils moved around different stations throughout the church, listening to personal stories of experience or family connections to the war. There was also the opportunity to try some “Trench cake” and look at medals, photographs, etc.

Experiencing Remembrance at Lerwick Methodist Church

Discussion over the meaning of courage – with some personal stories of how family members had been courageous during the war.

 

Discussion over the meaning of sacrifice – with some personal stories of how family members had made the ultimate sacrifice and personal experiences of the rationing of WW2.

Discussion over the meaning of being safe – the pupils heard the sound of an air raid siren and went down to experience an Anderson Shelter. Throughout this they were told stories of personal experiences of air raids during WW2.

Pupils discussed ways they could resolve the conflicts they had raised on our conflict wall.

Finally we discussed the meaning of remembrance and the significance of the poppy. Pupils were given two petals to write a name of somebody they would like to remember. One petal was left at the church and the other was placed in their pocket to act as a reminder for them.

After lunch we walked over to the War Memorial at Hilhead. We discussed that the inner section was dedicated to those lost in WW1 and how the outer section was dedicated to those lost in WW2.

The pupils enjoyed looking to see if their family name was present on the memorial and we looked for some of the names that Mr. Sandison had shared with us earlier in the day too. We took some rubbings of the names to bring back to school.

Both myself and Miss Budge would like to thank all of the pupils for their fabulous behaviour on the trip today and for James Adamson volunteering as our parent helper. There was a lot for us to fit in and they all behaved fatastically and were very respectful to those who were sharing stories with us.

A huge thank you to Mr. Sandison, and the Anderson High School, and those involved with our experience at the Lerwick Methodist Church.

Well done P5/6!!