Wellington’s Poppies

A year ago today an artistic installation at the Tower of London was finally completed. A young cadet was given the last of 888,246 ceramic poppies to plant in the ground.

The poignant display, entitled Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red, features one flower for each of the British or Colonial soldiers killed during the First World War.

A large number of those fallen soldiers had been educated at Wellington College, which has a rich military history in the UK, and with this significant connection, our art department revealed a temporary display of 350 ceramic poppies on Wellington grounds to match those at the Tower of London last year.

The project was led by Dan Eldred, Wellington’s Head of Art, and included pupils from Years 3 to 11, it focused on making the connection between art and the rich value it adds to our history books.

The poppy has been a strong symbol of remembrance for almost a century and is worn all over the world leading up to Remembrance day, on November 11th.

As the pupils created their ceramic poppy, they were given a chance to reflect upon its meaning and purpose, especially those Wellingtonains who are not much younger than those who were enlisting a hundred years ago today.

Bringing a project with such historic poignancy into art classrooms serves as clear example of the importance of learning history from multiple perspectives, an ideal which is at the core of our history curriculum.

Daniel Eldred is the Head of Art at Wellington College. With a degree in Fine Art Sculpture from Kingston University along with a PGCE seconding in Art and Design Education from the Institute of Education London he has worked with disaffected and excluded children in the UK as well as living and working in Thailand and Spain.