Students’ four year project to remember the Great War

Thursday 03 July 2014

The Island’s secondary school students are about to start a four-year project on World War One - the same duration as the Great War itself.

More than 200 students are taking part in a one-day conference at Hautlieu school tomorrow which will see the launch of the “Guardians of the Past” project.

Hautlieu history teacher Holly Sheldrake said: “This conference takes place exactly a month before the outbreak of war 100 years ago and we hope it will be the stimulus for an ongoing interest that students continue throughout their school career to Year 13.”

They will hear from local and national historians before taking part in a series of workshops looking at the significance of war for them today. They will then explore the conflict in depth as they move up the school, ending in studies in four years’ time of the Armistice and peace-making in 2018-19.

One of the aims of the project is to get schools working together and each of those taking part will host a different event as it happened during the period of the Great War.

It’s not just one big history lesson though as it will involve many other subjects too including drama, maths, science, geography, philosophy, ICT, music, English and art.

Ms Sheldrake said: “We have expanded ‘Guardians of the Past’ beyond the subject of history in order to stretch the students. We will be encouraging them to make connections between subjects and to develop their creative and critical thinking skills. The aim is to deliver a series of activities that encourage our young people to produce a personal commemoration or reflection on the importance of the event in their lives today.”

Education Minister Deputy Patrick Ryan said: “This ambitious and impressive project has the potential to make a significant contribution to young islanders’ understanding of the First World War. It is important that we remember the impact of war and continue to learn lessons from it. I look forward to hearing more about ‘Guardians of the Past’ as the project progresses.”