AS part of their learning about World War 2, P.7 pupils in Benarty Primary took part in a mock ‘Evacuation Day’ last Friday.
The pupils came dressed in clothes from the era so there were boys in short trousers and caps with girls in floral dresses and home knitted cardigans!
One pupil, Ronan McGuire, brought in his grandfather’s ARP helmet. “I was amazed at how heavy it was,” commented Ronan, “It is really heavy and hard!” With desks all turned to face the front and class teachers, also dressed in clothing styles from the period, the forties style curriculum began the day with the Lord’s prayer followed by a Bible reading.
After that spelling and maths took on a different kind of slant from the group work of modern times.
When the sirens rang later in the day P7s were evacuated to other classes so that they could experience something of the same kind of panic at separation that their peers must have endured 70 years ago. The pupils had been reading ‘Friend or Foe’, by Michael Murpurgo, as part of their literacy focus for the term. The day ended watching the film which brought something of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany home to pupils, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.
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