A small group of students and staff recently visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to produce a short film which will be used as part of the academy's Remembrance programme in November.

A small group of students and staff recently visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to produce a short film which will be used as part of the academy's Remembrance programme in November. Each year the academy falls silent at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month as the whole school community watches a specially prepared programme.

This broadcast is a great way to both educate our students and to pay respect to those who have lost their life in conflict. We attempt to engage our student audience with thought provoking images; this year's programme looks at the plight of evacuees who were taken from Middlesbrough to places such as Malton and Pickering. Without giving too much away our film takes a group of five students back in time, as they depart on a school trip and find themselves as evacuees in wartime Britain.

Each year NYMR holds a special event which is known as 'Railway in Wartime' and as the name suggests the clock is turned back and visitors have the opportunity to relive the amazing spirit and camaraderie of the Second World War. This event created a great backdrop for our drama production and some of the experiences we look forward to sharing with you in our Remembrance programme. It will be broadcast in the academy and published on our website on the 11th of November 2013.

A special thanks must be extended to a number of other visitors to the NYMR event, who added great value to our programme by taking up small acting parts in their authentic period costumes. One of the most memorable moments had to be when our students had the opportunity to speak with a gentleman who had fought in active service across Europe during the Second World War.