Stories from El Alamein

The Quiz By Emma
I felt sad when I saw a grave for a seventeen year old who had died at El Alamein. He must have been so principled, going to fight for his country. We had a quiz on the second day. We had loads of fun although we had to have two girls and two boys in a group! At the start we got to choose out team name. We called ours D.E.E.T which stands for…. Darsh, Emma, Elodie and Tom. We had lots of questions and they were SUPER HARD! They were all about what we saw in the museum we went to. And guess what happened at the end? GUESS! GUESS! D.E.E.T won the test so we won some sweets! I was a risk taker because if we didn't know the answer to questions we had a guess anyway.

Al Alemien was incredible! by Darsh
When I went to Al Alamein, I used many learner profiles, one of which was being a Risk-taker. I established this learner profile when I played "Raid the flag." I risked invading the other teams sector to find the flag. At first, I felt scared as if I was going to be caught. but I grew more and more confident and finally I invaded the other teams area. I was also knowledgeable when I contributed to the bus quiz. One of the finest things was when we played Raid the flag. There were two teams, boys against girls. The aim of the game was to try and capture the other team’s flag. Each person had one card like king, queen, jack, two etc.
If someone caught a person they would show there card. If their card was higher than yours, than you would take their card. If your card was lower than theirs, you would give them your card. If both cards were the same, you would leave each other alone.
Everyone had lots of fun! Darsh

Challenges, by Eesha
I was a communicator sharing answers in the quizzes as well as the technology quiz, working together with my group and planning together. We had to package our egg carefully (that was the 'pretend' medicine being dropped down to an injured person that fell down a cliff face.) We made a parachute and attached the wrapped egg then we tested it by dropping it from 5 metres. Guess what! The result was perfect - we won - the only group to do so! All of year six played a game called 'steal the keys.' You had to choose a person to sit on top of a chair, and blind fold that person that same person. With a torch in their hand, they had to point it at the person who was stealing the keys which would jingle a lot are placed under the chair. One person has to sneak up and catch them before they return to their spot. El Alamein was so enjoyable; it would be marvelous to go back one day again.

The Italian Memorial by Alia
Going to El Alamein was fun but the and saddest part was seeing all three different memorials .The Italian memorial was so different to the other memorials. It had the soldiers buried in marble walls and it was very sad seeing all of these brave people give up their lives for us. GOD BLESS THEM!!!!!!!!! Playing sports and games I found myself using lots of the learner profiles; answering quiz questions, and caring when my friend was hurt. I was also a risk taker, going into the cold outdoor pool!

Technology Challenge by Dania
You can't imagine how much fun we had at El Alamein, especially when we were having a technology challenge to protect our egg in a safe enclosure so it wouldn’t break when we dropped it from a high place. A few of the groups broke their eggs before even dropping it. Over all we all won but not all of us got a prize.

Non-Stop Water-Polo By Christian
My favourite activity was playing water-polo with all of my best friends; Abod and Diarmuid. It was a blast, imagine, 45 minutes of non-stop water-polo in a heated indoor pool
This proves that the Alamein trip wasn’t only learning, it was really FUN!!! The Alamein trip was a remarkable one, and if I had the choice, I would definitely go back there again. I was reflective because every day in bed I would think about what I did that day, how I did it, how much I had learned from it, what I learned and of course how much fun I had. I would create a sort of time line in my head.


The German Memorial by Elodie
On the second day we went to the German memorial on the beach. It was half inside half outside. When we got in the memorial there was a piece of art made with mosaic and on either side was a way to go out, in the middle was a pillar memorial. All around the pillar memorial were the grave stones which are shared between loads of people and behind was a sort of frame were we saw all names and ages from the grave stone lying in front of them. I felt sad for the young men who died for their country. I was good at communicating in all my groups - room mates and activities group. I was open minded and a thinker as I reflected on the poor people who had to give up their lives for us.

The Museum by Tom
El Alamein was great, everybody enjoyed it! One of the trips highlight was the museum it was fantastic yeah!
All the boys loved the tanks and the guns mg’s, handguns, rifles and submachine guns - all the boys’ toys!
We first learnt about the desert war and the fierce fighting. Montgomery was up against the best German general ever - Erwin Rommel! The faceoff had started the second biggest tank battle ever was underway. The British used bombardment. Rommel used cunning with his elite panzer brigades. Rommel was up against the desert rats using brains over strength!
Then we were on the road again! On our way to new sights, it was action packed I tell you. I was knowledgeable when I won the quiz on the bus as well as Mr Jo's quiz which was even harder. I was a risktaker when I went in the swimming pool when noone else was in it but me - it was freezing!

Our Last Day in El Alamein by Osama
I was a communicator and knowledgeable when I shared what I knew about WW2 with my bus group for the quiz. I also listened to another boys ideas about the war so I was open minded sharing my ideas and listening to others ideas. Our last day in El Alamein began with breakfast at 8 clock followed by some morning activities. There were 3 activities and every child had to rotate every half an hour. The teachers sorted us out in groups. The activities were: building sand-castles, playing football on the sand and walking on the rocks. My favourite one was playing football. I also enjoyed making sand-castles and walking on the rocks. After doing all the activities we went to our room and were given a certain time to put our luggage in the lobby and meet in the meeting room. In the meeting room Mr. Cavanagh was collecting towel cards, almost everyone had their towel cards. Then we went to the lobby where we took fifteen minutes to check out, and then we sat on our buses and left the hotel. Overall I think ElAlamein was an enjoyable site for so many reasons and I wish to go there again.

A Snapshot of Al Alamein by Abod

I asked lots of questions throughout our trip and showed lots of interest so I was an inquirer. We played a game where I had to take risks stepping on a mine. In our camp booklet I was knowlegeable as I thought and reflected on my learning. There was lots of thinking going on as I worked with my group to make a parachute to drop medicine (an egg) from a 5 metre drop.

The Commonwealth Cemetry By Hoda

The commonwealth memorial was the most interesting for me because I reflected on the gravestone inscriptions. One was: 'Goodnight Daddy' and I found that very touching.

We made rubbings over the inscriptions which turned out really well, rubbings remind me of the sad messages and insignia, name and age of the soldier as I look at them back at school. The visit to the cemetery relates to our topic about ways of dealing with conflict because it shows us how people suffered and died in war with a massive effect on so many people - its the best way to show how important peace is. I was open minded because I reflected on the different religions and many cultures represented in the cemeteries.

Common wealth cemeteries by Amanda
On the second day of the trip we woke up, had breakfast, hopped on the bus and off we went to the common wealth cemetery wow what a long trip!!! When I first stepped in that amazing place I was stunned of the number of graves which were countless!!! I was passing by most of them and read most of the notes that were written on the graves and there was one which really affected me which said 'resting where no shadows fall, love remembered by us all, good night daddy.' The youngest age I found was 17 years old. I reflect on and give thanks to all of the people that fought just for their countries and suffered most of their life for us.

Row, Row, Row your Bus QUICKLY Down the Road By Lama

When we left the school, it was a long journey in the bus. It took about 3 hours to get to the stop. We stopped at a place called “Masters”. It was so cool. There was a zoo, and the first thing you see when you pass the front gate are monkeys (it was outdoors). Also there is a play ground so after a small snack we went and played. It was like a rest from boredom. When we went back in the bus, I was so bored from the stop, all the way to the hotel but it was worth it. When we arrived at the hotel, it was BEAUTIFUL! There was a huge garden and upstairs in the room, there was a marvelous view of the ocean and the shore, I thought I was dreaming! I was really glad we were going to El Alamein and then I knew it was going to be a splendid stay.