Page 20
History
The students were amazed to see the rough heavy
woollen clothes and heavy equipment the soldiers were
expected to wear into battle. They were each carrying
over 60 lbs of equipment, and the only protection they
had was a steel helmet – which they discovered was more
of psychological value than providing real protection
from the weapons used.
The statistics of war were horrific with the number
of explosives used and deaths, graves and bodies
never found, numbering many, many thousands. At
Langemark, still tended by German students as a mark
of respect, the cemetery has 10,000 individual burials
and 25,000 buried in one massive underground chamber.
The trip really emphasized the wasted lives and was truly
a trip of a lifetime. The History department have wanted
to make this trip for a long time and, having done so, are
determined to go back. It feels like a promise to return
and remember the horrors of war and the many young
lives so tragically cut short. Derek Davies, Head of History
On Remembrance Day, 11th November,
History
teacher
Miss
Madden
accompanied two year eight students,
Leah Shelton and Francesca Scanlon, to a Remembrance Day Memorial Ceremony
at St. Mary's Church in Totnes. The ceremony was well attended, with community
members from various faiths and organisations.
Poems and passages were read from a representative of the Jewish and Sikh
community, as well as a local animal shelter - paying tribute to the millions of animals
who are victims of war the world over.
Afterwards, we made our way to the Civic Centre for a commemoration ceremony
that included poems and stories from members of the community; including Arabic
poetry read in Farsi and stories of local community members who have fought for this
country.
The students gained a lot from the experience and were moved by how many different
groups of people, both in Totnes and all over the UK are impacted by war every day.
Lynne Madden, Teacher of History and Politics
Remembrance in Totnes
Remembrance abroad
experience.
They went to Ypres; the Menin Gate; the Memorial Museum Passchendaele
1917; TyneCot BritishCemetery - the largest CommonwealthWar cemetery
in the world; the Canadian St. Julien Memorial, with its huge statue called
the 'brooding soldier'; Sanctuary Wood and Hill 62 Musuem; Langemark
German Cemetery; the Arras and Somme Battlefields; Thiepval Memorial
& Visitors Centre and Lochnagar Crater.
They were moved to hear the Last Post at Menin where students laid a
wreath on behalf of the students and staff of KEVICC; and performed their
own memorial service at Thiepval, with students laying a wreath as they
reflected on the carnage.
The enormity of the carnage of thewar – in the trenches; on the battlefields;
in the dressing stations – was brought home wherever they went, and
visiting the cemeteries was a very powerful experience when they saw
graves of people from all over the world with wide ranges of epitaphs. They
read words that celebrated the winning of medals and lamented the fact
that the graves would never be visited by loved ones who lived half way
round the world; or described the futility of the lost lives. This was a time
when every person found their own space to reflect on what it meant to
each of them.
On a recent trip, carefully
planned by History Dept.
teacher Catherine Hayes,
students visited some
of the WW1 Battlefields,
Memorials,
Cemeteries
and Trenches, coming
home very moved by the
Remembrance
Page 21
Science
Amixture of keen scientists fromyears 7 and 8 are embarking
on the British Science Associations bronze level ‘CREST’
award as their Challenge Pathway option. This gives them
the opportunity to explore real-world science, technology,
engineering and maths projects in a practical and hands-on
way.
In their latest project they used the science of fermentation
to create their own brand of fizzy drinks. They had to research
into the process of fermentation (the natural method of
making bubbles in fizzy drinks), produce marketing material
and logos for their brands before producing their own fizzy
drinks from scratch!
Some of the original brand names included; Melonade,
Elderflowerfizz, Mr Mixer, Lemberry Fizz, The Sweet Orange
and Cokemon!
They used fresh fruits and syrups, before adding hot water,
sugar and, the most important ingredient of all, yeast. They
then left them to ferment for 48 hours to produce the much
needed bubbles, before testing their flavour the following
lesson.
They are now in the process of writing up their project in
order to be awarded the bronze award certificate from the
British Science Association.
Hannah Gorman, Teacher of Science
Geography
Crest Award
The Geography Department
has been celebrating student
success with their newly-
established 'Wall of Fame'.
Thewall, located inMr Cotton’s
room 53, will feature the very
best of students' work across
Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. The
wall is currently displaying
the outstanding work of year
9 students, including Niall
Cashman, Jess McCormack
and Chloe Mitchelmore. The
students have created reports
as part of their work on Natural
Hazards.
This term, year 9 Geographers
have been learning about
the Earth’s unstable crust at
plate margins, and the unique
landforms that form there.
They created their reports
based upon Mount St. Helens,
a 40,000 year old volcano
which erupted in 1980.
Well done!
Millie Harris
