Two students visit WW1 battlefields in Belgium

Students Ellie Wood and Chloe Friberg were chosen to represent our school on a First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme; a national programme funded by the government to commemorate the First World War. 

The trip aimed to enable students to develop a personal connection to the First World War through interacting with the battlefield sites, participating in remembrance ceremonies and recording, reflecting and sharing their own experiences. Only two lucky students and one teacher from every state funded secondary school in England were given the opportunity to take part.

Ellie, Chloe and Miss Ellitson traveled with students and teachers from 14 other schools to the battlefields of the Ypres Salient in Belgium and The Somme in France on a three night tour this week. Each day they were set a key question to answer. 

Monday 1 October our question was: How did the First World War affect ordinary people?

The first thing they did was visit the Lijssenthoek Cemetery in Belgium where the girls were told the stories of WW1 soldiers and were asked to use the evidence on headstones to find out more about the men's ordinary lives. 

The second site of the day was the Passchendaele Museum. Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Zonnebeke is a Belgian museum devoted to the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres), where in 1917, in only 100 days, almost 500,000 men were killed for only eight kilometers gain of ground. The girls were asked to focus on: solider's uniforms; which nation was better equipped; how did gas impact war; what were women's role in the war and what was life like in Dugouts and trenches. 

They certainly gained an insight into a solider's life by experiencing a real life dugout from 1916 which lies underneath the museum and a recreation of a trench. 

The next part of the day saw Chloe Friberg selected by the tour guides, for her excellent knowledge of WW1, to lay a wreath at the daily act of remembrance for the fallen on behalf of The Academy at Shotton Hall and the Battlefields tour group. Chloe wrote a message on behalf of the tour and placed the wreath at the Menin Gate infront of over 1000 people. See photos from day one below.

Tuesday 3 October our question was: Was the Battle of the Somme in 1916 really a disaster for the British Army?

The first visit of the day was to Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park in The Somme, France - a preserved battlefield and the story of the Newfoundland Regiment on 1 July 1916.

The girls focus was to explore the memorial park looking at the landscape and how many English and Canadian men had a disadvantage and how many did not make it out of the trench system because the Germans occupied higher land.  

Next stop was to again look at headstones; the girls used headstones to assess how and why the graves reflected what happened at the Somme, noticing that most headstones link to big battles which occurred in July and August 1916. A large proportion of graves were unknown due to the introduction of tanks and machine guns in the war which destroyed many men. 

Before we left for the battlefields, the girls were asked to research a soldier who came from our region - Private James Stainson who was aged 35 and a member of the 15th Bn. Durham Light Infantry who lived in Blackhall Colliery in Castle Eden. The girls found the name of James on the Thiepal Memorial and left a cross of remembrance on behalf of the Academy as a thank you for his service. 

To finish our trip we visited a pottery workshop where the girls took part in a Belgium programme to promote remembrance and create a sculpture which will be on display in Ypres until 2019. We then went on to the Tyne Cot Cemetery which is the largest in the world. See photos of day two below.

It was a truly memorable experience - one which they will never forget. We hope they will share their experience with their fellow students to encourage more interest in WW1.

Well done girls - you were excellent representatives of The Academy at Shotton Hall - Miss Ellitson is extremely proud.