Create a Wartime Memory Bank

Left: Photo © Jon Pratty.

This project combines language work with history as well as fostering a sense of respect and understanding of the elderly in the local community. It is ideally suited to Keystage Two.
The aim is to create a resource that future generations of children in your school can refer to when they come to study World War Two.

Project Outline

• Decide upon the type of information the children will be looking for. This gives the memory bank a clear focus.
• Decide upon suitable people within the community to invite into the school to talk about their experiences. Write letters of invitation, outlining the project.
• Plan out questions to ask your visitors.
• Interviews could be recorded in a variety of ways - video recordings, sound recordings, photographs or children's drawings - there is plenty of scope.
• Collation of the interview results could be as simple or ambitious a project as time and resources allow.
• The memory bank could be online as part of a school website, in the form of a book, a box of easy reference cards, interview tapes, a video or a combination of forms. Encourage children to consider accessibility and durability of the resource.
• Write letters of thanks to the participants and invite them to see the finished memory bank.