Hiroshima: Past and Present

We were delighted to invite our Year 5 pupils along with their parents to an interactive Gifted and Talented evening on 17th March.

As an added surprise we were joined by our friends from Johoku School in Hiroshima, Japan, who took a very active role in the evening’s programme. On arrival everyone enjoyed some Japanese food; green tea, rice crackers, seaweed and wasabi nuts. The two staff members from Johoku School, Matt Branch and Adam Campbell, were integral to the whole evening and helped in the delivery of the programme, putting it into context.

The audience watched a short clip of the dropping of the atom bomb and then the scene was set as to how Hiroshima has moved on. They listened to the story of Sadako and how she attempted to make 1000 paper cranes to cure her illness. Everybody then made paper cranes with beautiful origami paper ably assisted by the Johoku students. Everybody was very engrossed and the cranes looked stunning.

The students were asked to consider what we mean by peace and Matt explained the thinking behind the new symbol of peace for Hiroshima which was displayed on the screen. This was very poignant as the 5th anniversary of the devastating tsunami which had hit Japan was the previous week. The students then wrote their own personal peace declaration on a Japanese styled scroll. Some students shared their thoughts with the audience.

As a finale the boys from Johoku performed the traditional folk dance of a sea shanty in traditional costume on the stage. It was spectacular. The Johoku students then took questions from the audience which proved most insightful and entertaining!

Some comments from the audience;

Thank you very much. The evening was interesting and fun.
I loved the boys doing their stunning dance.
We got to experience a different culture.
A brilliant night.
A lovely opportunity for the children to experience ‘big school’ whilst celebrating their ability.
The Japanese boys were really kind.
I liked the origami because it was challenging.
A well organised and fun couple of hours.
I enjoyed all of it but particularly meeting the boys from Japan and being shown how to make paper cranes. Their display was fabulous.
The Japanese boys are a credit to their school.
It was awesome.
Fantastic evening – very varied and kept everyone’s interest.
I enjoyed listening to the boys and learning about their culture.

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Owned by: VDN | Last Published: 11/04/2016 12:01:30 | Next Update: NA