SELWOOD Academy in Frome has been presented with a national award by the Government’s Legacy 110 First World War commemoration project.
Selwood Academy is one of just six schools across the country that has been presented with the award for its efforts in commemorating the war.
The Legacy 110 project encourages the 8,800 students who are visiting the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium through the government-funded Battlefields Tours Programme to each share their experiences with 110 other people.
Headteacher Jean Hopegood and head of history, Richard Sage, took pupils Oliver and Eloise to the House of Lords to receive their prestigious award and to share their work with other winners.
Oliver and Eloise said, “What makes this project and our school so special is that both allow the past to come alive. History is not a story in class but real families, brothers, mothers, relatives. People just like us.
“Through our music and artwork we were allowed to explore how we felt, to express without the restriction of words and to understand that we are here because of those who gave their lives.”
Selwood’s project was part of a whole year of commemorations for the school which used music, history, media and art to explore how Frome was affected by the war.
The research included an oral history of WW1, a school trip to the Frome War Memorial and a trip to the Somerset Heritage Centre.
Throughout the year pupils visited Belgium and France with the Battlefields Association, and others visited the Imperial War Museum.
30 students prepared a play called ‘Home of Delight’ based on original stories shared by the residents of a local retirement home.
The play was performed at Selwood in front of many of those who contributed, the Mayor of Frome and town councillors.
The second large-scale project was a lottery-funded show with a musical composition and visuals made by the pupils.
The project was completed with the help of the Bath Philharmonic Orchestra, and pupils incorporated their research to create an original composition and a performance which included animated media, lightboxes depicting the battlefields and a horse made out of pennies to represent the bronze memorial.
The school’s Jane Larman said, “The end result was a 40-minute performance involving members of the orchestra playing and singing alongside the children in a moving and thought provoking depiction of the events of Frome at that time. Parents, governors, councillors, and local people were all overwhelmed by the calibre and professionalism of the performance.”
