The 24 Year 9 pupils met with German students from Europaschule Friesenschule Leer and Belgian pupils from Sint-Aloysiuscollege Diksmuide. Together they visited cemeteries, museums and trenches in and around Ypres, while also having time to get to know one another and to understand each other’s differences and similarities.
 
With three of the most significant battles of World War I fought around the Ypres Salient, the battlefields of West Flanders are among Europe’s most important WWI sites. The countryside is dotted with war cemeteries, memorials and tributes to the 300,000 soldiers who fought and died on the land.
 
An incredible 185 WWI military cemeteries blanket the countryside surrounding Ypres, of which the most significant are the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery, the largest of its kind in the world, located close to Passendale, and the Vladso German War Cemetery, where the flowerless black gravestones stand sombrely before Käthe Kollwitz’s powerful The Grieving Parents sculptures.
 
In Ypres, the Menin Gate is a memorial in honour of the thousands of “missing” British and Commonwealth troops who fell in the Ypres Salient and have no known grave.
 
This trip promotes peace and understanding, and the pupils are given time together to reflect on all that they have seen. After the trip the pupils from Reepham, Leer and Diksmuide work on a Remembrance Service, which is held each year in November at Reepham High School.
 
Many pupils say the visit to Ypres is the best school trip they have attended. RHSC works hard to promote diversity and provide as many trips as possible. Our project has benefited greatly from European Union funding through the Comenius programme.
 
Unfortunately this funding is not as readily available as it has been in the past; consequently parents now have to contribute a great deal. The funding is also very short in our partner schools.
 
If any company or individual would like to help keep this inspirational trip running in future by assisting with funding, please contact RHSC business manager Peter Collins on 01603 870328 ext. 238 or email