UCL delivers Shrouds of the Somme Schools’ project to mark WW1

Prospective students Current students - Hundreds of children are benefiting from an immersive First World War education programme developed by UCL as part of the Shrouds of Somme project. The Shrouds of Somme project stems from artist Rob Heard who has spent the past five years hand-making more than 72,000 small shrouded figures, each one representing one of the men killed in the bloodiest battle in British military history whose bodies were never recovered. It is one of the major centrepieces of commemorations taking place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in November. To mark this important period in history, UCL Special Collections has delivered 18 educational workshops since September to schools in the neighbouring Olympic Park boroughs (Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Newham). A further 23 workshops are planned to take place, including some run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at the new Bobby Moore Academy located within the park. These workshops, developed in partnership with the UCL Institute of Education's First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme, combine historical enquiry with poetry, creative writing and the use of primary resources from UCL Special Collections to investigate the Battle of the Somme; what it was and how and why we remember it. The resources include self-guided teaching material for visiting groups and a free-online teaching resource, to complement its workshops and introductory sessions for Primary and Secondary school classes.