A group of year 6 students from Mayflower Primary School have created a work of art in memory of the children who died at their school as a result of bombing during World War One.
The pupils each created a paper butterfly in remembrance of the 18 four- to six-year-olds who were killed in an air raid that hit their east London school – then known as called Upper North Street Elementary – on June 13, 1917.
The butterflies were made during a workshop at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall art gallery, and will be displayed in the free ‘Echoes across the Century’ exhibition at the gallery, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of WW1.
The creations will be displayed alongside other pieces of artwork by 200 students from across 14 London schools, which explore themes from the war.
Katy Jewell, a teacher at Mayflower Primary, said: “This was particularly poignant for the children, as they were able to directly explore the artists’ and other schools’ responses to the bombing, which took place at our school in 1917.
“It was hugely important in putting their experiences, and the experience of our school, in the context of WW1, and also for them to try to get a sense of the scale of the war.”
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