Their Past, Your Future at Queens Croft Community School

School Details:

Queens Croft Community School is currently an all age school for children with moderate learning difficulties.

Needless to say the children frequently come to us with a multiplicity of challenges and problems. The study group for this project were a year 9 group with more behavioural issues than learning difficulties although these were ever present with some.

Our school is very successful at meeting the needs of the children and we work well with outside elements of our community. Lichfield is a city with strong military links and up until recently the local barracks was home to the Staffordshire Regiment and indeed each year we have a year 11 leaver join up.

Aims / Outcomes

The aim of our study was to make the pupils aware of the efforts of others in gaining and keeping the peace for our country and looking at the ways in which we remember them. It was to give them the sense that there are many different forms of bravery and that war affects the ordinary people. We also needed them to grasp that the war touched the lives of their own families too.

Imperial War Museum visit

We began our study by visiting the Imperial War Museum website and talking the children through the images seen. Following lessons involved trawling their parents and relatives for personal experiences, visiting the Cathedral to see the regimental colours and chapels and spending time at the National Memorial Centre at Alrewas.

All the time we were reinforcing the work in the classroom detailing the facts about the Second World War and the battles fought. We made great use of the interactive whiteboards and web sites such as the Beth Shalom holocaust centre at Nottingham and the War Graves Commission.

As a result we have found the children stimulated by the focus on history and linking it to their families, the highlight was the trip to the Imperial War Museum and the range of artefacts linking the ordinariness of life to the extraordinary demands made by war. We had a great time and we hoped that it is fixed in their memories.

Due to the lateness of our London trip work is still ongoing, following up the trip. The students are still actively involved in the topic and will be for some time.