Aylsham World War One local heroes

Luca (left) and Jacob (right) stand next to their completed project displayed in the school foyer.

Luca Wedge-Clarke and Jacob Sinkins attended a government funded Battlefields trip in October and were inspired by the stories of the people behind the pictures and the war graves. As part of the Institute of Education's Cententary 'Legacy 110' scheme the boys have researched and created an interactive display that contains the stories for local soldiers from the Aylsham area.

The interactive display can be seen currently in the corridor outside the History department and in Aylsham Church. It really is worth a look!

After completing the display, Luca and Jacob presented it to two whole school assemblies alongside discussing their experiences of the Battlefield tour that they attended. It recieved a warm welcome from their peers and stands as encouragement for students to take the time to research their own rich family histories.

Not only was this project displayed to students but it was also a central part of the school remembrance day. In the morning school governors, teachers, local members of the veterans associations and family members arrived at Aylsham High School for the interactive display's official unveiling. It was wonderful to see the boys put across their project and their experiences with so much enthusiasm. They instructed visitors on the use of QR codes that take the reader to a webpage on the life stories of soldiers such as F.J Barrett who is included within this project.




Year 8 Homework Project: World War One Scrap Books

This half-term Year 8 are studying World War One. During lesson time we'll be considering the questions below as part of our unit of work

• Why did men volunteer?
• How successful was trench warfare?
• What was life like in the trenches?
• How was new technology used?
• How was life in Britain affected by the War?

You will be creating a scrapbook based on at least two different areas of our study:

1. Volunteering
2. Life on the battlefields
3. Experiences at the Somme or Ypres
4. Life on the Homefront

Each scrapbook must contain:
- Diary entries of at least one person describing and explaining the topic area

- Appropriate historical sources such as photographs, posters, letters and postcards

The purpose is to create at least one, if not more, fictional characters who are able to explain the topic areas using evidence available to the historian.

 The most exciting scrapbooks will contain first-person diary entries that explain the topic areas by specifically pointing to collected evidence. For example, if a character saw a particular poster that made him want to join his local battalion then why not add that poster to the scrapbook?

You can use the information we gather in class as well to help support the work but must also use homework time to research further and create these the scrapbook. 

To help students organise themselves the History Department has its own Pinterest page with three different boards packed with primary and secondary sources that you could use (Volunteering, Trench Life, Homefront)

Lessons have been planned to help students study these areas. However, be aware that the bulk of the task is to be completed out of lessons.

If you are particularly interested in looking at this from a local angle see our new display outside the history classrooms about some men from Aylsham who served and died in World War One.

Extra help?
Lunchtimes in room 27
Twitter @History_AHS

Year 8 trip to Ypres

Recently Year 8 went on their annual trip to Ypres to visit the World War One war graves.

We left school at midnight on the 10th May heading down to Dove to catch the 4:30am ferry over to France and then from there we drove to Ypres arriving at our first site about 8am.

First Stop
Essex Farm Cemetery

Essex farm is a relatively small cemetery which has the grave of Private Strudwick as one of its memorials. Strudwick was only 15 when he died serving in the war.

Second stop
Langemarck Cemetery

Langemarck is the Germa cemetery in Ypres. It features a huge number of graves, many of which are unmarked, and has a noticeably darker feel to it than the British cemeteries which are lighter and more airy in feel.

Third stop
Hill 62 and Sanctuary Wood

Sanctuary Wood is an area of British Trench which you can walk around along with an attached museum full of lots of weird and wonderful artefacts from the war which are fascinating to look at.

Fourth stop
Ypres Centre, Menin Gate, The Cloth Hall Museum and the Chocolate shop

Ypres is a beautiful city. Whilst there we got the time to do several things. First we looked at Menin gate which is a memorial to thousands of missing soldiers from the area. For our interests two of the men named above came from Aylsham FJ Barrett and R Body. We also got to visit the huge Cloth Hall museum which is full of so many interesting things as well as having the opportunity to visit the chocolate shop opposite to stock up on the Belgian chocolates.

Final stop
Tyne Cot Cemetery

We ended our trip to Ypres at Tyne Cot cemetery which is a massive along with a huge memorial to missing soldiers.

We then headed had to France to return our journey back to England.

Recommeded Historical Reads: The Holocaust

Time for another Historical reads post

Today is national holocaust memorial day so I have some books I want to share with you

First up are a few graphic novels I've recently got my hands on

Yossel by Joe Kubert

This Graphic Novel tells the story of the Warsaw Ghetto and is literally the most chilling holocaust book I have read to date.

A Family Secret and The Search by Eric Heuvel

These are very short but the history in them is spot on and therefore brilliant in my opinion. They tell you the background to the holocaust in a well informed way and look at two interlinked stories about the holocaust.

Maus by Art Spiegelman

This tells the story of the author's father who survived the holocaust where all the Jews are mice and the Nazis cats. It is a huge graphic novel and probably the best one I have read so far.

Next onto some YA books which I think are brilliant

Boy in the striped Pajamas by John Boyne

I'm assuming everyone has read this by now but if not do check it out

Annexed by Sharon Dogar

If you loved the diary of Anee Frank you will love this. It is fiction but follows her story closely and tells it from the point of view of Peter, the boy who hid with Anne's family in the Annex. It is really well done and does real justice to the story.

Rose under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

This book is the story of a American pilot who ends up in a Nazi camp. I'm including it simply because it wasn't just Jewish people who suffered under Nazi rule and it is an amazing read.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I'm going to finish with this book because it is an example of another lesser know genocide and I think it is important to recognise that atrocities like the holocaust are not unique. It tells the story of the murder of thousands of Lithuanians under stalinist rule and is stunning.