History, culture, personal enrichment – just some of the things that young people deserve to experience as they grow up, but fitting all of this in can sometimes be difficult, especially for schools. That is why we have designed a trip that encapsulates all of this but doesn’t break the bank for your students.
Not as famous as the one in nearby Bruges the pretty market town of Ypres holds an annual Christmas Market. Visit the old town square to drink hot chocolate, look at the market stalls and be dazzled by the Christmas lights. However, by day you and your students can discover the more difficult history of the Flanders area as experienced during the First World War.
For four long years, Flanders Fields was the scene that epitomised the horrors of the Great War. Four major battles were fought here and more than 250,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers, of many nations, faiths and cultures, gave their lives. The landscape of the region still has many tales to tell allowing us to help you find out about the stories, tragedy and bravery of the soldiers who fought there.
Ypres lies at the heart of ‘the Salient’ and during the war the town was under almost constant bombardment, reducing it to ruins. Totally re-built the town is a constant reminder of what war tries to destroy but the human spirit can rebuild. Close to the market is The Menin Gate which marks the route that many soldiers took on their journey to the front line; it is the location of the Ypres Memorial to the Missing. Every evening the Last Post is sounded here in honour of the soldiers of the British Empire who lost their lives in the Salient.
Key Subject Knowledge
- Medicine and medical evacuation
- Women and the First World War
- Diversity and the range of troops that served and where they came from
- Technology and how it changed over the war
- The Pals battalions
- Daily life in the trenches
- The relationship between the Home Front and the Western Front
- Propaganda and communication
- Commemoration and legacy
Also available supporting elements of wider Humanities (geography, English, social sciences and citizenship)
- The battlefield and the physical landscape
- War poetry and war artists
- Decision making in the British Armed forces and the relationship between politicians and generals
- The different faiths that were in the British Forces
