The Mirfield Free Grammar – Creative Writing

I had the pleasure of spending two afternoons working with a wonderful group of Year 7 pupils from The Mirfield Free Grammar and Sixth Form. They enjoyed exploring some postcards from the collection and they were surprised to learn that some of them had been written by German soldiers. We discussed the vital role of the postal service during WW1 and the role of censorship. The pupils were fascinated by a selection of original artefacts and enjoyed learning about the history behind each piece and handling these items. Having learnt about how WW1 started and everyday life in the trenches, the pupils created a detailed character sketch of a soldier. We shared some examples of real soldiers’ diaries from WW1 and the pupils went on to write a diary entry for one significant day for their soldier, using all their senses to imagine what he might have experienced. The resulting pieces of work are extremely powerful and really resonate with the reader.