Many schools in the independent sector have made moving tributes for VE Day, despite lockdown, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will lead a two-minute silence at 11:00 BST to honour servicemen and women during World War Two, and the Queen will address the nation later.

Pupils and staff at Roedean School lit up the school’s façade in a giant union jack with 75 emblazoned across it and projected the words, We’ll Meet Again, as the school choir sang.

Theatre manager Joe Wailes, who has been quarantined in the school since the start of lockdown, choreographed the after-dark lighting up of the school, while head of music Veronica Fewkes assembled the girls of the choir remotely from across the world to get them to record the song.

Wailes also lit it in NHS blue to salute those who have been working in our hospitals and care homes during the coronavirus pandemic.

At Barnard Castle Preparatory School children have been creating bunting for the celebration after being asked by their headmistress Laura Turner, who sent each child a template and asked them to decorate it.

Parents took pictures of their children’s efforts and sent them into school where they were made into a video and shared with the Barney Prep community.

Turner said: “In our virtual assembly I explained that street parties would be cancelled but, in true Prep School fashion, we shouldn’t forget the day and that we would celebrate by making bunting. The assembly focused on determination and VE Day – and we were determined to mark this special event.”

Pupils at St Margaret’s School in Bushey have been writing letters with pictures for the residents of local care home, Beaumont House.

Elderly residents have also shared their memories with the children of what life was like during this period. Residents remembered rationing and a lack of flour and bread at that time, something the children could relate to during the current lockdown.

The school also held a special ‘remote assembly’ highlighting the significance of VE Day.

Brentwood School CCF cadets are also paying tribute by uploading photographs of themselves in uniform, adopting a VE Day pose, and those images have been used in photo montages put together by both the school and Brentwood Borough Council.

A number of cadets also answered the call to take part in a VE Day 20-minute memories video, courtesy of Brentwood Borough Council, who are leading the town’s virtual commemorations.