Dannevirke’s St Joseph’s School Anzac Day research inspires creativity

Poppy Buchanan with her report on the trip to the Cenotaph.

What is Anzac Day all about?

That question was behind programmes being run at many Tararua schools during term two.

Students in years four to five at Dannevirke’s St Joseph’s School Year 4-5 class, called Mana Manaaki, translated to mean caring for each other, began before the term one holiday with a few tasters.

This included making Anzac biscuits and doing artwork such as creating silhouettes depicting war on the Western Front in World War I.

The Anzac story by picture and message done by Year 4-5 Students at St Joseph's School and displayed at the Dannevirke Services and Citizen's Club.

In term two, the students undertook some serious research to find out what Anzac Day was about, particularly at Gallipoli but also in World War I where the poppy symbol had its origin as a symbol of remembrance.

More creativity on display.

The children also took a class trip to the Dannevirke Cenotaph where they were amazed at the long list of names and at the cenotaph itself.

The class gathers around the special record of their Anzac study.

Poppy Buchanan wrote a particularly moving account of the visit:

“What an adventure! We, our class, were walking to the cenotaph. It felt like a midsummer day but we were in May. Tori, Nova and I walked to the cenotaph in a group of three.

“At the cenotaph, there was a small breeze. Cars went by with a steady chug, people strolled by. There were many leaves on the ground, the grass was barely green. The soldiers were as dead as the leaves on the ground. I felt calm, peaceful and relaxed.”

“The cenotaph stood high as did the soldiers on the battlefront. A flagpole, slightly shorter than the cenotaph, with a flag strung to the top, stood representing New Zealand. The cenotaph had row upon row of names.”

“What a good day!”

Each member of the class painted and composed a summary of what they had found out – one of the challenges was to imagine being a soldier and writing a letter home.

The amazing Anzac silhouettes in the foyer of St Joseph's School

Such was teacher Jo Brown’s delight at what the children had discovered, she decided to share them with the public, offering them to the Dannevirke Services and Citizen’s Club for display.

The two large boards, full of children’s work, have attracted a lot of attention from club patrons.

A book featuring a lot of the children’s work is to be offered to the club to be read in the snug for a month or two, after which it will be stored in the school’s archive as a sample of modern education in 2023.