Ireland Wood Primary School - Lest We Forget

It was a Wednesday morning in Ireland Wood Primary School, and as it turned out, a very special morning.  I was sitting in the school hall and behind me [in front a display of their fabulous work] sat sixty year 6 pupils.  We had an audience of two Year 5 classes and approximately fifty parents and grandparents.

Some of us were a little nervous.

Class teachers, Mrs. Amos and Mrs. Stringer introduced the morning, talking about the learning objectives achieved by and the inclusivity of the project.  Mrs. Amos observed how when the project first started in the school seven years before we had only half a dozen parents in the audience, and how interest had grown every year.

We were there to share our writing about the Great War and to explain our writing journey.  Every pupil read some of their work, some their complete poem.  Their empathetic writings of what it meant to be a soldier at the front, or one of those left behind waiting for news, provided a moving commentary to World War One.  Poems like ‘Dear Valerie’ and ‘White Feather’ will stay with me for a long time.

I explained what we did in my first two mornings with Year 6, an ideas session in the first week, with an editing and redrafting workshop in the second week.  I took away my ideas from the first session and wrote a first draft of a poem which I was then able to share with the pupils, explaining what I had done, and how they might edit and redraft their own poems.

In between my explanations we heard individual recorded clips of children reading favourite lines from their poems, interspersed with live readings of complete poems.  And then all of Year 6 stood and read from memory the poem. ‘In Flanders Fields’.

We finished with everyone singing, ‘It’s a long Way To Tipperary’.  I looked into the audience and was moved to see parents and grandparents joining in.

The young people had a chance to talk about what they had learned from working on the poetry project and amongst others observed that ‘a poem doesn’t need to rhyme’, ‘how to be more confident about writing a poem’ and ‘how to work on and polish their work’,

Mr. Blackburn, the head teacher, spoke a few words of thanks to the audience, and said how the writing project had become very much part of what the school did.

I continued to sit in my chair as parents came forward to read from the display of children’s work.  Many of them said how their children had enjoyed the project and how much they had been inspired and learned from it.

It was as ever a brilliantly interactive experience, both working with staff and pupils at Ireland Wood and then sharing our writing with parents.

James Nash, 18^th November 2019

PS  I received an email last week from our vice chair, Di Wood Robinson and this is what she wrote: The 'Lest we Forget' assembly by year 6 was just amazing. The poems were stunning and very moving. Loved the music too. I read many of the displayed poems and thought they were such a high standard. I wish we could somehow get them printed in book form, they are so good. James is really exceptional. The children totally relate to him. A certain grandchild talked non stop on the way home about James’s Blackbird poem and quoted from it. This from a child far more into Maths and cricket. James is so inspiring. He had high praise for all the staff involved and holds the school in very high esteem. Funding for next year might be in doubt. It would be criminal not to continue with his input. She has also asked to find out how much you cost (!!) because if next year is in doubt, she thinks school should fund you..... Here is an email from a grandparent who attended the assembly: Dear Mr Blackburn I would like to thank you and your staff for organising such a wonderful assembly on Wednesday focussing on the poems the children had written about World War 1. Ireland Wood is such an inclusive school and it was delightful to see every child involved. The display of poems was outstanding and I felt emotional listening to the readings. Thank you for including families in what was for me a very memorable event. With best wishes Tricia McKinney As for Emma and me, we were once again delighted by the poetry the children created. It's always so fascinating to see the process they go through and having this opportunity, thanks to the Headingley Litfest, certainly impacts the children's experience and standard of writing. Adrienne x Class teacher Adrienne Amos adds:  I received an email last week from our vice chair, Di Wood Robinson and this is what she wrote: The 'Lest we Forget' assembly by year 6 was just amazing. The poems were stunning and very moving. Loved the music too. I read many of the displayed poems and thought they were such a high standard. I wish we could somehow get them printed in book form, they are so good. James is really exceptional. The children totally relate to him. A certain grandchild talked non stop on the way home about James’s Blackbird poem and quoted from it. This from a child far more into Maths and cricket. James is so inspiring. He had high praise for all the staff involved and holds the school in very high esteem. Funding for next year might be in doubt. It would be criminal not to continue with his input. She has also asked to find out how much you cost (!!) because if next year is in doubt, she thinks school should fund you..... Here is an email from a grandparent who attended the assembly: Dear Mr Blackburn I would like to thank you and your staff for organising such a wonderful assembly on Wednesday focussing on the poems the children had written about World War 1. Ireland Wood is such an inclusive school and it was delightful to see every child involved. The display of poems was outstanding and I felt emotional listening to the readings. Thank you for including families in what was for me a very memorable event. With best wishes Tricia McKinney As for Emma and me, we were once again delighted by the poetry the children created. It's always so fascinating to see the process they go through and having this opportunity, thanks to the Headingley Litfest, certainly impacts the children's experience and standard of writing. Adrienne x