Tank you for great day!

On Wednesday 10th May a group of students from Twynham School in Christchurch had an excellent visit to The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset. Students were able to experience life inside a Chieftan Main Battle Tank, understanding the challenges that tank crew go through, the need for excellent communication and teamwork to ensure that tanks work together to achieve their objectives.

Students then put those communication skills into practise learning to operate remote controlled tanks over and through various obstacles both with and without sight to emphasise the importance of good communication. In the afternoon we had a chance to become experts on a particular tank, then share our learning with the group and finally to spend some time looking at life during the First, Second and Cold wars.

Claire Cooper, the museum’s Education Officer said “Watching the children engage with the subject of teamwork in the army was quite inspiring. All the children threw themselves in to the challenges and were interested to learn as much as they could. Lots of questions were asked and they were keen to seek out the answers for themselves. A wonderful day was had by all.”

We agree, it was an absolutely super day and the students certainly enjoyed their time and learnt a lot about the history and development of tanks over the last 100 years.

Mina Peroni – ELSA, Student Support, Twynham School said “Our students very much enjoyed a day visit to The Tank Museum, they are grateful to the Jon Egging Trust for making the trip happen. It gave the group an opportunity to build on their team work and rapport/relationship with each other. They especially enjoyed being able to get inside a real tank and ‘visit the trenches’. The students commented on what a fun day it had been and how friendly all the staff were at both The Tank Museum and the Jon Egging Trust. The work with the Jon Egging Trust for students involved has been invaluable.”

And finally, Tony Stirling, Head of Operations said of the group “In my opinion they were the most polite, well-mannered and delightful bunch of kids I have personally encountered here at the museum for a very long time.”