For Year 5 pupils, the Occupation is part of their curriculum for the year, so joining them in a class at the beginning of the term was perfect timing to tell them about how the Occupation started and the changes to day to day life that occurred almost straight away for children at the time. Here is the note which Class 5’s teacher sent me:
“I was very fortunate to have Marc come in and talk to my Year 5 class at St Mary’s School. His expertise and knowledge about The Occupation captivated the children’s interest from the start. The session was well prepared, he used an informative power point and the accompanying talk was pitched at the right level. Marc made it interesting by speaking about real life stories and the children were fascinated to hear about the dilemma that local people faced at that time, ‘ should we stay or should we go?’ This sparked off lots of interesting discussion. Marc also bought in lots of artefacts for the children to examine.
A couple of quotes: ‘That was brilliant! He let us touch the artefacts, the gas masks, the mine flags and even the guns! ‘
‘I learnt about the V for victory symbol and how the artist Blampied hid the symbol in the stamps that he designed.’
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Marc to any other teachers out there. Let’s continue to keep our local history alive for the next generation! ”
I had a great afternoon with the children who asked some really good questions. I even got a Thank You card drawn by the whole class!
