69 Year 9 Pupils enjoy a trip through WWI History

69 Pupils attended an excellent History trip over the first weekend of the October Half term. They had the chance to visit some of the sites they had learnt about during Year 8 including the battlefields of the Somme, along with Commonwealth War Graves at Tyne Cot and Essex Farm cemeteries. Pupils learnt about the youngest English soldier's grave, belonging to a 15 year old boy who joined the army at 14 (same school year as them) and this put it all into perspective. This was contrasted with the rather dark, sombre cemetery of Langemark that holds mass graves belonging to German soldiers and pupils got to see the spot that Hitler stood on when he visited here in World War II.

Following this, pupils had some time in Ypres, visiting the local chocolate shop where their Euro's disappeared and attended the Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony where a wreath was laid on behalf of the school. On the final days, pupils let their hair down at the local theme park before visiting the Thiepval Memorial, where Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen was read and pupils had time to reflect on the trip. A fantastic trip with outstanding behaviour and one that will hopefully live with the pupils for a long time.