Home Front Heroes…

Author: Alex Worrall

On Monday 20^th  November, Year 6 visited Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse in Norfolk as part of their WW2 topic.

The visit was an immersive experience from start to finish, where the children dressed up as evacuees and took part in a role play. Beginning in the Chapel Year 6 were joined by costumed characters bringing the Home Front to life.

Throughout the day, the children met a Women’s Land Army girl, Mabel Browne, and learnt about the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. They helped on the farm cleaning saddles for the horses and milking the cows.

Next, they had to take cover and entered an Anderson shelter, with an ARP warden, Warden Smith. Here they learnt about the role of an ARP warden and how people kept safe during an air raid. Once they had received the all clear signal they were shown how to use a stirrup pump, which was used during WW2 to put out fires after bombs had hit.

In the afternoon, Captain Morgan, a member of the Home Guard, put the children through a training session and looked at the importance that morale had to those living in Britain in WW2.

The highlight of the day, however, was visiting the village shop and shopping for Mrs Watts. Here the children learnt about rationing and how it worked. They visited Mrs Watts’ cottage and helped her to make some ‘interesting’ wartime treats.

The visit was an excellent addition to our ‘We’ll Meet Again’ topic where the children have been learning about the significance of WW2. It helped the children to empathise with evacuees during the 1940s and to understand their feelings and experiences but also how World War 2 affected everyone on the Home Front. Upon returning to school, they applied their newfound knowledge about rationing and wrote a non-chronological report.

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