Belgian battlefield tours draw UK students

More than 1,000 schools in the UK have signed on to a plan to bring secondary school students to Flanders to visit the battlefields of the First World War during the centenary, which starts next year. According to the British Foreign Office, the £5.3 (€6.25) million plan has already attracted 1,097 secondary schools since launching just this summer.

Each school will send one teacher and two students on a four-day tour of battlefield and other notable sites, such as Talbot House in Poperinge, where soldiers retired for rest and recuperation. They will also take part in joint commemoration ceremonies, the best-known of which is the Last Post, sounded nightly at the Menin Gate in Ypres (pictured).

Teachers and students who take part in the visits will share their experiences with the rest of the school. The First World War is part of the new history curriculum for children aged 11 to 14.

Pilot tours involving 25 schools have already taken place and have visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, In Flanders Fields museum, the Memorial Museum at Passchendaele, Talbot House and the Menin Gate.

One teacher who has already made the trip is Harriet Salkeld of Park High School in London. “The experience was amazing; a lot of work and thought has clearly gone into it,” she said. “The pupils keep talking about the trip and have given presentations in their history lessons to explain what they learned. I have also received a letter from one of their parents expressing thanks for the opportunity and to say their daughter had not stopped talking about the trip.”