On Friday, 28th June, 39 bleary-eyed students and staff met at school early in the morning to travel to France and Belgium to see the battlefields of the First World War. A brief pitstop at the motorway services revived us, and we were all a lot more awake by the time we arrived in France to see the Canadian memorial at Vimy.
A busy weekend of visits to the areas of fighting around Ypres and the Somme ensued, with highlights such as enjoying tea in the garden of Talbot House in Poperinge, a beautiful refuge for soldiers away from the front line, and holding our own bilingual ceremony to remember the Welsh soldiers of the war at the dragon monument at Mametz Wood.
As always, our Year 9 and 10 students were a credit to us and enjoyed hearing the personal stories of First World War soldiers from our guide, Alan Reed. It was a poignant and memorable trip.