Thomas Fairchild Community School Year 6, Hackney
30 June 2015
LETTER FROM MOHAN SINGH THOMAS FAIRCHILD COMMUNITY SCHOOL
My dearest Sita,
It’s been a long time since my last letter, but do not worry about me.
I miss you and mother.
Tell her I’ve moved into the support trenches. They are safer.
I’m still in Turkey – it’s hot here, like India sometimes.
It reminds me of home.
I’ve got lots of friends to share the experience.
You lose friends together, walk hand in hand with death together …
We are a family. We are a family.
Last night there was a big bombardment,
Lots of people are dying right now,
The trenches are muddy, infested with rats and lice.
The stench of death lingers in the air.
How long will this last for?
All I want to do it come home, into your arms.
Your loving
Mohan Singh
We got to act and pretend to be the soldiers who fought in World War 1. It was very emotional and gave us a good experience of what happened in the war and what they went through. And so I now respect the soldiers who risked their lives to save our country. Tyler
The best thing about the puppet-making was using the different materials and seeing what amazing things you can make from them. I thought it was an amazing experience. Estela
I love that we got to add our own rhythms to our song. – Haja
The Artefacts Handling was a great activity to immerse the children into the topic. It created a great sense of interest and excitement in the children and having real objects for them to handle really brought the trenches to life. With regards to the pupils’ social and emotional understanding of the topic, handling real objects from the trenches brought home to them the reality of World War One. – Year 6 Staff at Thomas Fairchild Community School
It was great for the pupils to see that soldiers from across the British Empire fought during the war. As professionals, we ourselves have gained a greater understanding of the historical events. – Year 6 Staff at Thomas Fairchild Community School
Children felt a great sense of ownership of their own song and were very proud of themselves when performing the song in front of their friends and family. Seeing the whole performance come together was truly wonderful. Pupils really shone and parents were very proud. The impact has been valuable to the year groups involved. – Year Six staff at Thomas Fairchild Community School
Very well organised in all respects. – Staff at Thomas Fairchild Community School
