The Courier

We enjoyed a fun filled day that started with a close look at the number 75. We identified the number on a hundred square and counted to 75 and beyond. We agreed that was a lot of birthdays!

We sorted pictures and compared school in the past with Crescent School today. We each created a celebration poster but the highlight of the day was decorating a biscuit that we got to take home.

In 1Q, we learned about the Windrush sailings in 1948. We made some Caribbean facemasks using different materials and colours. 

A wide range of learning and fun took place on Founders day as Class 2E were immersed in life in 1948.

In French, they learned about life in France during the 1940s, watched a video clip of family life and school life in 1948, talked about food shortages, rationing and the German occupation during the war. They also looked at how the country was rebuilt after the war with the help of large numbers of immigrants. Finally, they looked at 1940s fashion and revised clothes vocabulary.

In music, children listened to a range of different tracks from the 1940’s and then had great fun being taught 1940’s dance styles of ballroom, swing and jitterbug.

They took part in a 1940's Home Economics lesson and learned that many foods were still rationed in 1948.  We talked about the impacts that would have on the amount and range of foods children would get. There were still treats for the children and class 2E really enjoyed baking ‘ Crunchies’. We held true to 1948 ingredients for all bar the lard (we cheated a little and used margarine).

In Games, we had lots of fun talking about how children used to play in the 1940’s – often outside on their own for a whole day at a time. We talked about outdoor games like marbles, hop-scotch, skipping and leap-frog and then enjoyed indoor games playing Beetle Drive, Noughts and Crosses and Penny Shove.

1940's Art looked at the style of Henry Moore and his post- war animal sculptures. 

Children in 2W loved finding out about 1948 and comparing their lives to those of children who first started at Crescent School 75 years ago. We played games from that era, planned meals according to rationing rules and even tried calligraphy. In French we learned about life in France during the 1940s and in Art we have been looking at the animal sketches and sculptures of Henry Moore and understanding the importance of drawing the animal before making a sculpture of it.

Last week on the 1940s theme day, 3S thought about rationing and how it continued after World War 2 well into the 1950s. The children discussed how difficult this must have been and then they cooked a recipe for rock cakes, using ingredients including margarine! They weighed in pounds and ounces too. Most of the children thought that they tasted ok?

Classes 3S, 5F and 6W learned about the project that began in 1948, the same year that Crescent opened, when a ship called HMT Windrush set sail from Jamaica for England for the first time.

Great Britain had promised members of the Empire (now the Commonwealth) safe passage, homes and jobs to rebuilt Great Britain after the destruction of World War II. Many West Indians found employment with the new NHS and London buses and trains. However, the promise of a warm welcome was not true for many as they faced terrible racism. Communities started to build as the Windrush generation found homes in certain places like Brixton. Only in the 1960s did racist acts become illegal and the plight of these 500,000 people brought about changes in race equality.

Windrush Day is 22nd June, the day the first ship arrived and around this time the West Indian culture is celebrated at the Notting Hill Carnival. 

Pupils empathised with these people and showed real understanding of an awful situation that was supposed to be a journey of a lifetime.

In Year 4, we considered what life might have been like after WW2, when rationing was still a part of people's lives. We explored clothes rationing and calculated what we could have bought with a limited number of coupons. We also calculated how many coupons our present-day wardrobes could be worth and compared it to the allowances children had during rationing. The children were very surprised by the results! 

Handwriting was the focus in their English lessons. We used a variety of pens and paper and styles to produce some lovely calligraphy - the concentration was intense. 

Year 4, 5 and 6 spent the morning looking at science inventions in the 1940s which changed the world. These included the transistor, LP records, the jeep and the first programmable computer. The pupils learned how finding solutions during the war helped science bring about new inventions. There was great fun listening and dancing to 1940's LPs!