Form II were ‘evacuated’ to RAF Hendon to develop their learning in history and find out more about life during World War II. They investigated the wide range of aircraft on display at the museum, seeing how different types of planes had different roles and also seeing the fates that became some of the planes on display. They learned more about the science of flight in a hands-on section of the museum and then, after lunch (which was luckily not rationed!), they met an APW who explained to them the importance of the blackout, showed them an incendiary bomb and taught them how to dispose of these safely by burying them in sand if they happened to land in the garden. They heard about some unfortunate families whose houses had been burned by the flying fire bombs, and had a go at pumping water from a pail. As they investigated how to fit their cars with blackout devices over the headlights, the air-raid siren sounded and everyone rushed into the shelter and found that they may not be able to leave for many hours. Luckily there were two chamber pots provided! Our Warden was the first to poke her head out on hearing the ‘all clear’ and the children were pleased to escape. They got to try on real RAF uniforms from the war and learned about the different people who wore them, before completing an investigation in a different hangar about other roles during the war.
A little retail therapy ended a busy day and everyone was happy to head out of London to the relative safety of Barnardiston!
