Battlefields Trip

On Monday 17th June, 61 students from Year 9 travelled to France and Belgium on a three day residential Battlefields Trip.

On day 1 in Ypres, Belgium, students visited the Bayernwald Trenches at Wijtschaete and the Memorial Museum Passchendaele at Zonnebeke before having dinner and then walking down to take part in The Last Post ceremony at The Menin Gate, where Harry and Taiya laid a wreath on behalf of Claydon High School. This ceremony takes place every night to remember the soldiers who never came back and whose names are written on the walls of the monument. 

On Day 2, the group travelled back across the border to France where they visited a variety of sites linked to the Battle of the Somme. The visit to Vimy Ridge focused on R. C. Sherriff’s 'Journey’s End' (which English students can chose to study in Year 10) and his service here in 1916. There were real trenches to see and the vast memorial of Thiepval where 72,000 British and South African soldiers’ names are listed. Artefacts from the war were seen at the Musee Somme, an underground museum in Albert.

During their final day in Belgium, students took part in a conducted Battlefield Tour of Ypres which lasted approximately 3 hours and included visits to Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, where 11,900 soldiers were laid to rest after the battle of         Passchendaele. They also went to the German cemetery of Langemark.

Well done to all who took part and showed the upmost respect during this moving trip.

More pictures to follow...