Each October Retford Oaks Academy opens its doors to local primary school pupils, dignitaries and representatives of the Royal British Legion for its annual Poppy Day event – sadly due to the current pandemic, it just hasn’t been possible this year.
The Poppy Appeal has become an annual tradition for Retford Oaks and it really is a whole academy affair. Students usually get involved in so many different ways, either through readings, dance and poetry or by simply wearing a poppy as a show of support for the Armed Forces communities across the UK, Allied Forces and the Commonwealth. Students who are members of the Army Cadets and RAF Air Cadets even wear their uniforms to mark the occasion. Despite this year being very different, we are still continuing to fill our windows with poppies and encourage you to do the same by downloading a poppy and placing it in your window at home – you can download a copy here.
Chris West, Principal of Retford Oaks said: “It’s such a shame we cannot invite our guests into the academy at this time, however in true Retford Oaks tradition, we have created a fantastic display, which you can see from the road, including silhouettes of service men and our ‘Poppy man’ – we will also be holding our two minute silence on the 11 November at 11am.”
Despite not being able to hold an annual event, the importance of what the British Legion does still continues and we encourage our whole academy community to support such a great cause. With thousands of poppy collectors unable to sell poppies locally and many fundraising events cancelled, they are relying on us the British public to donate if we can, you can find details here.
