WW1 Battlefields Tour

It was a thought provoking few days in Northern France and Belgium for our Year 9 students on their Battlefields tour.

A packed itinerary included visits to cemeteries, trenches and museums in both the Somme and Belgium, including; the Lochnagar crater; the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme; Sheffield Memorial Park, where our very informative guide, Tom, explained about the Pals system; and two key Canadian sites, Beaumont-Hamel with it’s calling Caribou, and Vimy Memorial.

In Ypres, pupils spent time visiting the 'In Flanders Fields' Museum and, of course, the chocolate shop before the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. Students, Lois Turner and Archie Wallace laid a school wreath as part of a moving ceremony showing respect for those lost in battle.

At many of the memorials, students spent time scanning the thousands of names for local regiments and their own surnames, as well as looking for specific long lost family members they had researched prior to setting off.

Students particularly enjoyed exploring the underground tunnels re-created at the Passchendaele Museum to experience what life was like for WW1 soldiers and exploring the real trenches preserved at the Sanctuary Wood Museum.

After a final night in Ypres, our trip spent the morning walking through Bruges.

“My favourite thing about the battlefields trip was when we went to see the trenches that were preserved with corrugated iron. It was incredible to see the conditions that the soldiers had to deal with. I also enjoyed going to the museum where we got to lay in the dugout beds.” Ilaria

“My favourite part of the Battlefields trip was exploring the underground tunnels in the trenches.” Matthew