On the 11th of November, students and staff across the college tuned in to an online service marking Remembrance Day.
Tom Barge, Head of Sport and Public Services, led the presentation which commemorated those who have died as a result of war. Students listened and learned about the origins of Remembrance Day and the meanings behind different coloured poppies.
Reverend Georgia Condell, the college chaplain, encouraged students to think about the importance of memories and how we can learn from them to create a better future. Following this, Claire Myers, Vice Principal at the college, read an excerpt from ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Lewis Hall (Redbridge Community School) and Anthony Garlaschi (Saint George Catholic College), both Uniformed Public Services students, attended the presentation which was recorded in the library. Lewis read an excerpt from ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
The service concluded with a two-minute silence which featured student Thomas Gooding playing the Last Post and the Reveille. Photographs of Taunton’s students who served during World War I were displayed onscreen throughout the silence.
Watch our online Remembrance Day service
During the day, students were also able to follow a poppy trail around the college campus. The trail was organised by Director of Teaching and Learning, Lisa Fernandez-Adams, and highlighted interesting information and poetry related to Remembrance Day.