Last Thursday morning, 55 year 9s and five stoic staff braved the cold and set off for a trip to Ypres in Belgium to visit the site of the WW1 battlefields and to practice their French on the way. It was a busy two days, full of lots of historical and cultural information, as Scarlett Appleby explains….
Going on the Belgium trip was really fun, I really liked learning about the war. When we got to France we went to a bakery. We learnt (in French) how they made croissants and bread. Then they gave us free samples which were really good. We then got back on the coach and headed to Ypres. Once getting settled into the hotel and after we had dinner, we headed out to watch a memorial ceremony. The Menin Gate monument was beautiful and I got some really nice pictures. We then walked down the street to a Belgian chocolate shop. The people there were really nice and we all bought lots of yummy chocolate.
On Friday we had some breakfast, packed our stuff then got back onto the coach to go to the Flanders Field Museum, I found out a load of interesting facts about the war and it was all very interesting. We regrouped after and then headed over to some WW1 cemeteries.
I think my favourite part was going into the trenches and scaring some of the other students. The funniest part was definitely on the way back on the Euro tunnel when Ms Hargreaves and Mr Dowty started dancing, everyone cheered them on as they made the most of it. I definitely recommend going on this trip as it was probably one of my best experiences so far.
A huge thank you to Mr Lyley and Mrs Paddick for organising the trip and to Mrs Hargreaves, Mr Dowty and Miss Herlock for their support and great company on the trip.  Year 8 budding historians and French speakers might like to look out for next year’s trip to Ypres!

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