Last week, 100 Year 10 students left school at 7.30 a.m. to make their way to Suffolk to visit the Great War Huts at Brook Farm Camp. When they arrived, everyone changed their shoes into wellies, so they were ready to go in the muddy and waterlogged trench! Luckily, the sun shone, and it wasn’t too cold for February.

The groups rotated around 5 different activities.

• Walk around a mock WW1 trench: Students and staff tentatively made their way around the trench, looking at the dugouts, fire steps, duckboards, tight corners, and facilities. The guide told us about the soldiers’ day-to-day life.
• A talk about medical provision with artefacts: One of the guides spoke about how medical care developed over the course of the way, bringing it to life with the use of props and real artefacts!
• A talk about the progression of the war: In the small hall, a guide showed us how the army equipment developed over the course of the war in response to the different conditions the soldiers faced. A WW1 soldier modelled the uniform and changes in equipment with the occasional jump scare!
• Rifle handling: The WW1 soldier taught us how to hold, load and shoot a WW1 (without bullets, of course). They are surprisingly heavy!
• Military parade: Students and staff were taught a few commands and eventually how to march in formation.

The coaches then took us to Bury St Edmunds Cemetery. As a group, students looked at the distinctive commonwealth war graves and laid a wreath on behalf of the school. The guides recited a poem, and paid tribute with a one-minute silence.

They returned to school at 5.20 p.m. after a brilliant day for students and staff alike.

The students behaved impeccably and were a credit to the school.