Legacy 110 awards ceremony blog

The Legacy 110 programme is an initiative built around the UCL Institute of Education (IOE)’s First World War Centenary Battlefields Tour Programme, which aims to encourage pupils and schools that take part in the tours to share what they have learned with others in their schools and communities in order to help maintain the legacy of the Great War.

This comprehensive education programme, which allows every secondary school in England to send two pupils and one teacher to the Ypres and the Somme to witness first-hand battlefields sites, is now half way through its scheduled five years. The second annual awards ceremony, recognising some of the most outstanding projects that have taken place as part of Legacy 110, was held at the House of Lords on Thursday 8^th December – featuring presentations from each of the winning schools.

The diverse and impressive range of projects that received awards showcased how the programme is about much more than simply learning about WW1 or history, and that it actually cuts across subject areas – from English, drama, music through to art, and helps encourage children to work with different groups of people.

As the programme leader, Jerome Freeman from the IOE said in his address: “this is much more than just a battlefield tour – it is a comprehensive educational programme. It goes well beyond the 1 Plus 2 on the tour – it impacts hundreds of students in every school”. He added that the Legacy projects encourage children to work with many different groups – “their communities, other schools, different generations” and encourages them to “build connections across these”.

A teacher from Thomas Ashton School in Hyde – for children with social and emotional difficulties, extoled the inclusive and diverse aspect of the programme. She explained that for one of her pupils, this was her first time leaving the country. The experience of travelling to another country alongside many children from other schools is a great boost to many of these children’s confidence, she said.

She also added how working on the accompanying projects had enabled the building of bridges between young and old – they initially researched 600 local soldiers who had fought in the war, and through talking to older members of their community who may have knowledge or memories of relatives that were involved. Another student from Thomas Ashton school said “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I enjoyed the team building which we took part in and meeting other kids from different schools.”

Technology and social media were an integral part of their projects for many of the schools, and the pupils from Thomas Ashton School also made a vlog documenting their experiences and a short film about their trip which they posted on You Tube. Pupils from Selwood Academy in Frome, Somerset gave a particularly impressive presentation showcasing an Art, Music and History project that told the story of a local soldier Charlie Robbins who fought on the Somme. The highlight of this was a striking and unusual piece of music that they collaborated on with Bath Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of an Art, Music and History project

Two boys from York schools – Milthorpe High and York High; initiated a project together with other schools in their area which included an exhibition entitled ‘1916; It’s more than just The Somme’ at the city’s Castle Museum which was attended by over 200 people.  They also built links with schools internationally and took part in a charity cycle ride to Belgium, as well as sending food bags to refugees in Greece. Their teacher said the tour “opened their eyes up to what they can do” and gave them confidence to be more ambitious in their work than they would have otherwise been.

Jerome Freeman summed up the impact  of the programme on the children who take part by saying that investigating the stories of their relatives and communities ensures the learning experience becomes about “real people, not just a tour of cemeteries”.

For more information about the FWWCBTP and Legacy 110 go to: www.centenarybattlefieldtours.org.