‘Remembrance is close to our hearts at Victoria College because our former students and staff gave their lives in military service,’ headmaster Alun Watkins said.
‘We mark it every November with a very special and moving ceremony that every boy takes part in. This year we decided to do something special to show our respect as a school and we are using the First World War as a discussion point across all year groups and all subjects to create a really thought-provoking educational week for our boys.’
Victoria College’s Remembrance week will begin on Monday 5 November with a school assembly in Langford Sports Hall and end on Friday 9 November with a special service attended by Chelsea Pensioners in the Great Hall.
As the hall cannot accommodate all the pupils, the proceedings will be live streamed around the senior and prep schools.
A cannon will be fired in the grounds to mark a two-minute silence.
For the first time, pupils from Victoria College Prep will join the senior school, with older boys walking alongside younger ones to lay poppies.
‘The military history is so integral to Victoria College and that makes Remembrance special for us,’ said head boy Oscar Le Seelleur.
‘Our school houses are named after war heroes so we learn all about what they went through. I think students here feel humbled by their bravery and take pride in paying respect.’
Pictures with commentary of the 126 Old Victorians killed in the war will be displayed around the school during the week. These include two recipients of the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honour, Lieutenant William Bruce and Captain Allastair McReady-Diarmid.
At the end of the Remembrance service all students will walk silently past the school’s statue of Sir Galahad, which honours those who fell in the Great War.
Other events include students making poppies for a memorial art installation, learning about the British Red Cross and German PoWs imprisoned in the Island and a workshop with Jersey Post on the stories behind the Island’s First World War commemorative stamps.
