The Year 6 children became historians this week as they visited the Imperial War Museum and met two men who experienced WW2 – one who stayed in the city as a child and one who was evacuated to the countryside.

looking closely at objects from the past, the children learnt all about the lives of the Allpress family at the IWM. They read newspaper articles, analysed objects and made astute inferences based on the primary sources of evidence. Graham Zeitlin lived in Birmingham and he spoke to the children about life during the war, rationing and how wartime was often a happy time to be a child.

In school, David Merron, author of Goodbye East End, spoke and answered questions about evacuation. The children were fascinated by his tales of life in the countryside and how returning to London was equally as difficult as leaving.