YEAR six pupils at St John’s School were transported back in time to occupied France during the Second World War last week.
Each of the 28 pupils, aged 10 and 11, took on the persona of an undercover agent, known as Special Operations Executives (SOE), for the event at Knockaloe farm, in Patrick.
They performed a range of special tasks including code-cracking, laying traps to blow up enemy vehicles, deactivating bombs, sending radio messages home and making shelters.
And they learned how to move injured SOE agents by making an improvised stretcher from coats and broom handles.
The day also saw the children being interrogated by the Germans and hiding from a Gestapo officer – head teacher Nigel Bennett.
Teacher Sara Ayres has previously arranged ‘evacuation days’ for children, based on the home front in England but she explained that this year she wanted to take things a step further by looking at life in occupied France.
‘I wanted them to get a flavour of what it would have been like to an undercover agent in France,’ she said.
Mrs Ayres said: ‘I hope the day has given them a real sense of how scary it was and yet how brave these people were with taking chances with their lives.’
She said that the children had described the trip as one of the best they had ever been, adding: ‘I just hope it will stick with them.’
Mrs Ayres thanked Shaun Gelling of the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture for his support.
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