Greenham Common Protest Day

On Monday, 28 June, the Farlington grounds were transformed into a protest camp, complete with campfires, 'bender' shelters and protest songs, for our Greenham Common Protest Day.

In 1981, women gathered at Greenham Common in Berkshire to protest against the government's decision to allow nuclear weapons to be stored there. The movement, which became known as the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, was active for 19 years, with the last women leaving in 2000.

At our cross-curricular Greenham Common Protest Day, we were lucky enough to meet two former Greenham women, Jo and Sue, from the Scary Little Girls Greenham Women Everywhere project. These incredibly inspirational women ran a series of truly immersive exercises for Farlington students in Years 7 to 9. Through this experience, pupils developed an understanding of how and why people choose to protest, and evaluated which methods of protest they felt were morally right and most effective.

We were so impressed with the students' creativity in conveying their messages, and the passion displayed for their chosen causes was very moving.

Pupils in Years 5 and 6 also produced some stunning artwork inspired by our Protest Day, using all sorts of creative materials to produce some really thought-provoking pieces.

Huge thanks to Scary Little Girls and also to BBC Radio 4, who came along to join the fun and will be featuring our Protest Day as part of their Greenham Common 40-year anniversary celebrations this September.