STUDENTS and staff at Peterlee's Dene Academy marked Armistice Day by adorning a wire statue of a soldier Tommy with hundreds of red poppies.
Teacher Rochelle Charlton-Laine, who is head of the school’s Social Moral and Spiritual Aspects (SMSA) of learning, said: “The soldier is our way of reminding all the fallen. We are also doing it to support a local group from the Seaham and Peterlee which held a 24-hour vigil at the Seaham war memorial.
“That event, organised by David McKenna, had individual soldiers rotating on sentry for 24 hours over the weekend.
“Their GoFundMe page called Stag on in Remembrance has raised more than £2,600 for the British Legion.
“Our soldier will remainn on Stag - British Army slang for sentry duty - outside the school."
About 630 pupils and staff made about 700 poppies for the statue.
During the day they went out one-by-one to pay their respects and put their poppy up.
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