Year 9 reflect on a thought-provoking trip to Ypres

Nearly 60 Year 9 students traveled to Ypres, Belgium to visit the battlegrounds of the First World War. Having spent the term studying the war, including learning about life in the trenches and the dreadful battles and terrifying weapons of the war, this was an opportunity for the students to develop a first-hand understanding of what the experience of trench warfare must have been like for the soldiers.  

The students visited Essex Farm cemetery, which included the medical station where John Mcrae wrote his famous poem 'In Flanders Fields.' They also visited the grave of Valentine Joe Strudwick, a soldier who lied about his age to join up and died aged just 15 years old. We visited Tyne Cot, the biggest commonwealth cemetery. The students were struck by the scale of the cemetery and also the number of soldiers names engraved on the cemetery walls in remembrance of those who died but whose bodies were never recovered. The students reflected upon the differences between Tyne Cot and Langemark cemetery, where German soldiers were buried. The dark coloured headstones, mass graves and tall trees created a sombre mood in stark contrast to that of the  British cemetery and we discussed the differences in the way the war dead were commemorated between the winning and losing nations. Finally, we traveled to Ypres town, visiting the Menin Gate for a ceremony during which we left a wreath from the school at the famous monument. After chicken, chips and ice cream at a local restaurant, and a very exciting trip to a Belgian chocolate shop, we returned home, enthused but also reflective and certainly possessing a great appreciation of the hardship endured and sacrifices made by so many young men and women in the First World War.