11am on the 11th of November 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1.

The importance of this hugely significant milestone needed to be understood by pupils at St. Julie's, so the Humanities department set to work to ensure that the history of WW1, Remembrance Day and the ongoing associated impacts of war were understood by our pupils.

Pupils were given a range of opportunities to engage with the events of WW1 in the week leading up to Remembrance Day. History lessons focused on the causes and impacts of WW1; other subject areas were encouraged to incorporate aspects of WW1 into their lessons (e.g. the geographical locations of soldiers' home countries, and using the numbers of people who died in WW1 from different countries to calculate percentages in Maths); Mrs Naylor spent hours at home researching, preparing and creating an amazing display to commemorate WW1 up in the Humanities department; and PSHE was focused on the British Legion campaign of 'everyone remembered' for a thank you to those who served in WW1.

For the PSHE lesson the History department prepared information about the different ways in which people were affected by WW1, including children, women and those from British colonies, for form tutors to present and discuss with classes. Pupils were then told about the way in which WW1 affected Liverpool and Merseyside by focusing on the deaths of members of the King's Liverpool regiment - the 'Liverpool Pals' - over 7000 men were killed in WW1 from this regiment alone.

Wooden crosses designed and made by Mr Radburn in Technology were provided to classes, and pupils chose the name of a soldier from the Liverpool Pals to write on a poppy. These poppies were then stuck on the wooden crosses ready for the whole school Remembrance service.

Mr Anderson did an amazing job at organising the service, and form representatives were able to present their crosses during the service. Following on from the service, some of our Sixth Formers from Humanities helped to place the wooden crosses in the grass in front of our Peace Garden in rows to be symbolic of a graveyard.

The effect of this is that anyone looking out on the Peace Garden or walking past can see and reflect on the 1000+ names of men who died in WW1 from our local area. It is hugely moving and emotional, and an effective way of us respecting and remembering the sacrifices made then, and now, for our freedom.