Around 400 students at a Hackney Central school marked Armistice Day with a special service this morning,
Pupils aged between 11 and 17 from The Urswick School in Paragon Road attended a service at St-John-at-Hackney Church.
Father Chris Ferris, chaplain at the school and associate rector of the church in Lower Clapton Road, lead the service.
The students listened to readings, sang hymns and the national anthem. They also enjoyed a musical performance by the school’s acapella group Fola the Leaders, who sang All the Fine Young Men, a song about soldiers who lost their lives in the first World War.
They then observed a two minute silence as a mark of respect for those who died, before laying a wreath of poppies at the cenotaph, outside the church.
Headteacher Richard Brown said: “Hackney has a diverse community and some of our children will have experienced conflict in other parts of the world. One of the great values of studying the war, and marking Armistice Day, is that it emphasises to young people the importance of living in peace, which is a really valuable lesson to learn.”
Students from the school’s Sixth Form Academy have raised almost £250 for the Royal British Legion from selling poppies.
The school marks Armistice Day each year and year nine students have been studying World War I in their history lessons.
Armistice Day marks the treaty signed on November 11, 1913 between World War I allies and Germany to cease all hostilities on the western front.
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