Letter to Soldiers
Each year, our Year 6 write letters/send cards to current serving British soldiers. In the autumn term, pupils had the opportunity to learn about WW2 in History and the impact it had on our local area. Within their learning journey, they learn all about Remembrance Day and the importance of the event. Linked to this, they relish the opportunity to write to current, serving soldiers to share what they have been learning about and to offer their thanks for their hard work and dedication. Having the chance to have a real-life writing opportunity is incredibly beneficial and valuable to our pupils.
Therefore, I would like to share the below message with you from a soldier that we wrote to during Christmas:
I am writing to thank you so much for the Christmas Card and letter that arrived in a Christmas Box. It reached the personnel of a Royal Air Force fighter squadron deployed on operations from an RAF base. We are having a very busy tour, as you can probably appreciate. We fly day and night and our engineers and supporting elements work 24 hours to keep us on track.
I think it’s very easy in our fast-paced world to miss the little moments of purity and beauty that punctuate life. Receiving the card, obviously made with such care, was a real moment to stop, reflect, and be thankful. The letter, so genuine and forthright, was a credit to your young student and school and brought me real joy to read. Christmas Eve into Christmas Day for us were working days like any other and I myself was airborne that night to see the day in. It didn’t feel much like Christmas this year, but your school’s kindness brought it into focus for a while and for that I am immensely grateful.
We spend around half of every calendar year away from home on operations or engaging with Partner Nations in support of UK Defence. I love my job, feel incredibly privileged to do it, and have real pride in what we achieve on behalf of the country. However, it clearly comes with a personal cost as we try to put the needs of our Service ahead of our own. Acts of kindness like this make a real difference and remind us what makes British people so great.
I wonder if you would be kind enough to pass on the message below to your Y6 pupil, the artist who made the card and wrote such a lovely letter.