As part of our school’s Remembrance Day commemorations, Year 6 pupils have worked together to write two powerful poems reflecting on the themes of war, sacrifice and remembrance. Drawing on what they’ve learned about the experiences of soldiers, the pupils have explored emotions such as courage, loss and hope through their writing.
They also created clay tile tributes which were displayed at the front of the school during our Remembrance Day Service when we were joined by Rear Admiral Lang DL, our Head Boy and Head Girl read ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae. Miss Williams signaled the two minutes silence by playing The Last Post on her bugle.
Through these poems, Year 6 aims to honour the memory of those who served and ensure their stories continue to resonate with us today.
Remember
Blood, sweat, fear and grime,
Bombs are ticking, it’s nearly time.
Wind whistles wildly through the gloom covered fields,
They face each other but nobody yields.
Crack! A gunshot fires.
Soldiers sent here because of liars.
Panic stricken, brave men shiver
They watch as their lives like poppies wither.
Like the jaws of death, destruction draws near,
Drops of water, a solitary tear.
Like blood from flaming scars, they fall.
They cry for help, they stumble and crawl…
Down in the trenches blood-shot eyes stare
At families and loved ones, friends who aren’t there.
Death beats in their hearts, death pounds in their heads.
Will they ever return to their far away beds?
The bodies lie lifeless, the poppies are still
An eerie silence, a mournful chill.
Anxious parents wait alone
Thinking of sons that will never come home.
Now poppies grow row on row
Where the men fought bravely many years ago…
Beyond the lines
As claustrophobia crept over me, the sudden jerk of the boat made my hair stand on end.
The dark, damp evening shadowed over the battlefields, the soldiers crashed to the ground.
POP, SNAP, BOOM went the guns,
The soldiers slowly trudged along the battlefields as though they had potato sacks upon their backs.
Bomb after bomb soldiers fell; BANG! BANG! BANG!
The gunshots rang in my head like a repetitive drumbeat.
People collapsed around me like raindrops,
The big bang of a bomb went off far away in the distance,
A devil screamed as a warning sign, telling us to go away or else death will be in our grasp,
The screaming sound of the wailing siren pierced my ears as I scrambled desperately while watching bombs crash down before me; they just missed me,
My heart was pounding like horses hooves hitting the ground,
Time flies while bomb after bomb dropped on each soldier knocking them down like dominos,
Deafening, the gunshots ring in my ears like eagles screaming in hell,
I tasted the metal blood in my mouth as I ran, panting heavily, my heart pounding against my chest.
I was demoralized as people dropped like flies, one by one.
The rivals charged towards me as I hid for my life, and it began to rain,
I was fighting as hard as I could. I could hardly take a breath. BOOM, CRASH, a bomb landed. I felt as if my soul had darkened. I was depressed but determined. I could not give up on my beloved troops,
A deafening boom determined my fate. The end was drawing near,
The deflated, dead soldiers screeched like lost souls. I saw the gory blood pouring out of the poor, weak soldier. I think he knew it was the end,
The evil eyes of the Germans stared me in the face. BANG, the shells from the guns killing my mates. Shooting carries on, war never stops. CRASH that was the end.