Primary Schools War Memorial Competition Winners 2014

Dumfries Primary School Wins Royal British legion war memorial Competition

The Royal British Legion Scotland was so impressed with the entries they  received from schools across Scotland into our Primary Schools War Memorial Competition which was organised as part of the Voices of Veterans Campaign. The level of all entries was exceptional and they had a hard time even trying to arrive at 4 regional finalists which were announced the week beginning the 17th March 2014.

The prize is a tour and overnight stay for pupils from both schools on board original Royal Navy War Ship and floating war museum, HMS Belfast, in London. They will also present their research to veterans at the Royal British Legion Scotland Annual Conference.

As the standard of the entries was so high the judges  decided to pick joint winners, so a huge congratulations to: St Andrews Primary school Dumfries and Fair Isle Primary School .

Kevin Gray, CEO of the Royal British Legion Scotland said:

“The films made by Fair Isle Primary and St Andrews Primary showed how much they had engaged with their history and war memorial heritage through the stories of real people. Well done to both for their achievements.”

Minister for Transport and Veterans, Keith Brown who helped judge the competition said:

“The quality of the entries is very strong and shows the great creativity and imagination of the children. With more than 70 entries to choose from it was clear to see that young people have a thirst for knowledge about our history. Innovative competitions like this are an excellent way of teaching children about World War One.  The competition made such an impression that the Scottish Government is meeting the costs of providing a second top prize to the winners.”

St Andrews Primary pupils produced a film featuring pupils in character as local soldiers whose stories they uncovered during their research. One local story uncovered was that of Norman MacWhinney from Caerlaverock, a Sergeant Major who was decorated with the Military Medal for his bravery. His platoon was near the river Aisne in France when he was hit by a German shell. He died in battle.
As well as online research and the roll calls on the walls of the memorial inside the chapel itself the pupils from St Andrews also got information from the ‘blue books’ records of service stored in the Chapel.

St Andrews Primary School teacher Joanne Aitken said, “The children have been so enthused by this project. It’s the first time they have learned about World War One. It was their idea at first to shoot the film as if they were in the trenches. Then the pupils decided they wanted to act in the film and get into the character of soldiers they learned about.”
She added, “I think all the pupils now have a global understanding what happened during World War One. The competition really brought it home to them. I think it gave them a chance to get a real breadth of learning, from how the War started to the experiences of life in the trenches.”

Thank you again to all schools who entered and for the effort put into the competition.

All Info for this article was Shared with full permission from the Royal British Legion Scotland