Since September in English, Year 8 students have been studying Private Peaceful, by Michael Morpurgo, and learning about the impact of World War One on the lives of soldiers and their families. As part of this, we recently took Year 8 on a tour of war memorials and the Regimental War Museum here in Monmouth, where they were able to look at original conscription books, touch real gas masks and weapons, listen to a talk by the museum’s curator, consider the purpose of war memorials, and learn about Monmouth’s contributions to the war effort. We learned lots about the Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, and even studied a poem written about a soldier from this regiment who died, written by a soldier of that same regiment.
Students were then asked to complete two projects: firstly, they were asked to research and present on either a name that they had found on the local cenotaph, or a family member who had been involved in the war, finding out about that soldier’s life and military career; secondly, they were asked to explore further any element of World War One context that interested them and present it in any way they liked. The first part of this project produced some very moving presentations, including stories of local heroes, and family stories of three brothers whose lives were all changed on July 1st, 1916, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. One student even brought in wartime snacks made of typical ration ingredients, and asked us to salute our fallen soldiers as part of his presentation!
The second part of this project has truly blown us away as a Faculty, and as a staff more widely: we have had hand-carved German grenade sticks, models of tanks, dioramas of the front line, moving poetry, reflections on family members who fought in the war, and beautiful artwork depicting different elements of war. So blown away were we, in fact, that we decided to exhibit the work formally and invite parents and governors in to view the work on Wednesday 13th November, as part of our Remembrance Day commemorations. We invited Drs Stephen and PJ Shaw, who run the Regimental War Museum and were so brilliant in their support of our trip there, and they, too, were incredibly impressed, praising the “energy and passion” that was so clearly demonstrated by Year 8 students’ work. They have assured us that they are happy to have us back for our next cohort of Year 8 students next year!
The exhibition was well-attended, with parents and governors enjoying the opportunity to see students’ work celebrated. 28 Year 8 student ambassadors volunteered to attend and discuss their work and projects with attendees; everyone spoke very highly about how passionate and engaged our students were, and how knowledgeably and sensitively they talked about the subject matter. Well done Year 8, you have made us all extremely proud!
Mrs Curry/English Faculty
Ethan Duberley 10LJO attends the RAF Air Cadets in Ross on Wye twice a week and has recently taken time out of his Oct half term to volunteer doing crafts and activities with the elderly at a local care home. 
Congratulations to Brynn Fernandez who recently, as a Year 9 student, entered the 5k Chepstow Steeplechase and came first in the under 20s category.
This morning, Richard Jones from the Welsh Youth Parliament joined our Y11 assembly to give a presentation ahead of the Welsh Youth Parliament Elections later this month.
