Kelvinside Academy, a War Memorial Trust school with one of the biggest Combined Cadet Forces (CCF) in the country, is one of several iconic locations across Scotland “Lighting Up Red” in support of Poppyscotland. Some 177 Kelvinside Pupils lost their lives fighting for their country in WWI and WWII.

As has become tradition, the school has also paid tribute to the fallen with a poignant display featuring silhouettes of soldiers and poppies – designed and created by pupils – outside the A-Listed school building in the city’s West End. Handmade ornamental poppies, one for every former pupil whose life has been lost, have also been planted in the school grounds.

Daniel Wyatt, Rector of Kelvinside Academy, said: “The Kelvinside Academy community will never forget our former pupils who fought and died during WWI and WWII. Lighting up the school and creating this display is a lasting reminder to everybody of the sacrifice they, and everybody who fought in those conflicts, made. We will always remember them.”

The School’s formal Remembrance Service takes place at Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church on Monday November 11.

]]> https://education-today.co.uk/her-royal-highness-the-princess-royal-opens-27m-edge-hill-university-facility/ Mon, 21 Jan 2019 10:35:22 +0000 https://education-today.co.uk/?p=12254 Catalyst, the new £27m home for the library, careers and student services functions was officially opened last week by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. 

Her Royal Highness toured the state-of-the-art building and met with students, staff and alumni as well as key people involved in the development and construction of Catalyst before officially opening the building.  

During her visit, Her Royal Highness had the opportunity to learn about research work in the Biology department which focuses on the eradication of major global health threats. This included work on insecticide resistance in mosquitos and research aimed at developing new antibiotics from strains of Streptomyces bacteria. 

Professor Clare Austin, Director of Medical Education gave an overview of Edge Hill Medical School, which will train undergraduates from 2020 with a foundation year starting this year. Colleagues also demonstrated key clinical skills equipment. 

Her Royal Highness viewed Remember Me, a multimedia art installation by Professor Helen Newall, exploring the fragmentation of memory and identity in the context of WWI. She examined a selection of items relating to the University’s history and links with the suffragette movement in the archive, viewed demonstrations by the student wellbeing and campus life teams and met student volunteers, scholarship winners and alumni. She also saw a rehearsal of a suffragette themed play and learned about the University’s work with Tate Liverpool.

Dr John Cater, Vice-Chancellor at Edge Hill, said: “The University is exceedingly proud of our iconic, state-of-the-art, Catalyst Building which is transforming learning and support opportunities for over ten thousand students. We’re exceedingly proud that Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, kindly and generously agreed to formally open this stunning facility.” 

The Catalyst building has brought together several of Edge Hill’s student facing teams for the first time, giving them a prominent and highly visible presence at the heart of the campus.

The 8,000 square-metre space provides a 50 per cent increase in study spaces and houses 230,000 books on 5,000 shelves and its 24-hour opening gives students improved access to services.  

Confidential interview spaces, meeting areas, group rooms and waiting areas have been designed to ensure users receive the best possible service and experience. An event space and new facilities allows the Careers Service to showcase job opportunities and host employer events alongside mock interviews, CV workshops and ongoing career advice and support.  

Jacqui Howe, Head of Careers, said: “Since we moved into Catalyst we’ve seen an increase in the uptake of our services by students and increased engagement. As it houses the library, the building has a huge footfall and more students are dropping in to see us than ever before. We’re delighted that Her Royal Highness has met some of our fantastic volunteers today as volunteering is one of the main ways we help new students settle into university and the wider community. It not only gives them real transformable skills but also helps them make friends and grow in confidence.” 

Simon Kinder, Gresham’s Head of History who has been involved in the project, explains: “The names were omitted either as a result of having only been discovered more recently, thanks to further research, or as a result of the students and staff members having moved away to other schools and institutions and therefore being included on memorials elsewhere. Some of the missing names were initially discovered by our former Deputy Head, Sue Smart, who published a poignant book about the fallen – When Heroes Die – in 2001. The book, which was reprinted in 2014, gives our school a connection with our past that few other schools are likely to have, and for that we are incredibly grateful to Sue.

“Building on Sue’s findings, I undertook further research, comparing our original school registers with the CWGC database, newspaper archives and family history and military online resources,steered by our school archivist Liz Larby. Committed to the philosophy that archives need to be educationally relevant, Liz has supported every aspect of our wider centenary project since 2014, including leading a group of student researchers every Friday afternoon in the task of creating profiles of the fallen men, all of which can be found in the Roll of Honour section of our dedicated WWI Memorial Website.”

The combination of staff and student efforts has resulted in the school discovering 15 names – the original memorial board depicted 99 students and one member of staff and the school now knows the names of 112 students and three members of staff – which will be included on the new memorial board. The largest donation towards the £8,000 needed for the new stone was given by the Gresham’s Foundation, with further support received from the Old Greshamiam Club and wider school community. A special effort was made by former Director of Music at Gresham’s, Angela Dugdale, for organising a WWI concert, 1914-1918 Never Such Innocence, Gresham’s at War in words and music. Proceeds from the concert, alongside £10 sales of a CD recorded in the school’s Fishmongers’ Recital Room by Robert FitzGerald, with tenor Christopher Barnes and pianoforte Philip Adam titled We do not forget, were donated to the memorial stone fund.

Gresham’s Headmaster, Douglas Robb, said: “In a service held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Chapel, in 2016, we remembered that the building stands as a memorial to those from the school community whose lives began here but were tragically cut short by war. The Roll of Honour of the 115 fallen students and staff was read out and, for each name, a member of the school’s current Combined Cadet Force solemnly left the building. The empty seats portrayed a haunting image to those present. As part of our four year focus on the centenary, we have paused and remembered each one of our fallen, as close as we can to the centenary of their death, with specially commissioned paper lanterns lit as a symbol of Hope and Peace, and 115 stories told since the project began in 2014.

“The City of Peace stained glass window bears the inscription “They whom this window commemorates were numbered among those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and sacrifice, giving up their lives that others may live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.” I am so thankful to our students, to Simon and Liz, to Sue, and everyone else who has supported this project. It gives all of us such a tangible way to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War, as well as a renewed determination to play our part in maintaining peace.”