Saturday 9 November 2024 at our school was marked by white and red. Pupils and staff celebrated the 106th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence by singing the national anthem together. Lessons were devoted to history and national symbols, and white-and-red artwork was created in the classrooms.

The anthem as part of the ‘Szkoła do hymnu’ campaign

The school joined the ‘Szkoła do hymnu’ (‘Schools Sing the Anthem’) campaign organised by the Polish Ministry of Education. In a packed school hall, with the words displayed on a screen, pupils and staff sang the national anthem. ‘Mazurek Dąbrowskiego’ (‘Dąbrowski's Mazurka’), written by Józef Wybicki in 1797, has for generations accompanied Poles at their most important moments – including those growing up far from their homeland.

Pupils waved white-and-red flags, and the teachers held up the poster ‘Łączy Nas Polska’ (‘Poland Unites Us’), made from handprints in the national colours. Cupcakes decorated with flags appeared on the tables.

The national colours throughout the school

White and red were everywhere that day: on worksheets, on the children's clothes and on the rosettes. In one of the classes, pupils watched the presentation ‘Narodowe Święto Niepodległości’ (‘National Independence Day’) and slides about the period of the Partitions – one of them showed a map of the Polish lands divided between Prussia, Russia and Austria. The date 11 November 1918 symbolically closes the 123 years during which the Polish state was absent from the map of Europe.

The children learnt about the national symbols – the flag, the emblem and the anthem – stuck tissue paper on to flags on cards bearing the words ‘1918 – Odzyskanie Niepodległości’ (‘1918 – Independence Regained’), coloured in the eagle and the outline of the map of Poland, and made large paper rosettes from white and red strips. One of the school's accounts of the day opened with a poem about the flag:

The flag flutters When the wind rises. And on this flag Are white and red. Red is love, White – a pure heart. Beautiful are Our national colours.

extract from a poem

Words about the homeland

Another account of the celebrations was preceded by words about the bond with one's native land:

I will not be like a broken thread. I reject hollow-sounding words. One may not love you – and still live, but one cannot bear fruit.

Wisława Szymborska

It was a moving Saturday, and at the same time full of joy and pride. More photos from the celebrations can be seen in the gallery.