It is an ambitious and exciting school project.
Like many other youngsters, children at St Patrick’s RC Primary School in Birkby have been studying the Great War.
But unlike many others who stuck to books, they have taken their project work to the extreme and produced an 18-minute film to show off their work.
It includes monologues by some of the children about former pupils who sacrificed their lives in the Great War.
And it also shows the children staging a football match, in tribute to the famous truce match that took place between British and German soldiers on Christmas Day 1914.
The film was the brainchild of deputy head Chris Sutcliffe and he said: “It has been very well received”.
The school roped in former pupil Jamie Malone, who is studying at Greenhead College, to shoot and edit the film, created by the Year 6 Great War Project Group.
They were joined by the school choir, who sang Christmas carols to provide a backdrop.
Mr Sutcliffe said: “We started out looking at the history of our own school, which dates back 150 years to 1864, and as part of that we examined some old school logbooks.
“They had many references to the Great War and when we looked into it further, we realised a lot of former pupils had served in the forces.
“Sadly, it is easier to trace those who died rather than those who lived and so far we have managed to piece together the stories of 49 former St Patrick’s pupils who lost their lives.
“Thanks to help from Huddersfield Library, Marsden Parish Church where there was an exhibition and the book by Margaret Stansfield, charting what happened to all the Huddersfield troops, we have managed to put together a potted history.
“I came across a diary of a soldier from the war and we decided to use that as the basis for a script, bringing the lives of the Huddersfield soldiers into it.
“The children had a great time making the film and they have done a very thorough job.
“It has been very well received and a lot of people have asked for a copy”.
