Year 9 Visit Belgium Battlefields

50 Year 9 History students had a wonderful time in Belgium during a whistlestop trip over Friday 2 and Saturday 3 May! 

Departing THS at 4am on Friday 2 May, students arrived in Belgium ready to explore historical sites linked to the famous battlefields, as well as visiting museums, a chocolate shop and taking in the sites in the city of Ypres.

"Ypres lies in the heart of Flanders, South Belgium amidst some of the most hotly contested battlefields of World War One.

The city, long a culturally and economically significant Flanders population, was hot property during the Great War. Whoever controlled Ypres controlled the vital passes to the channel ports of Northern France and Belgium.

Some titanic clashes took place in and around Ypres in an area called the Ypres Salient. The Ypres Salient spread from the city centre to cover the countryside outside the city. In total, it spanned around 9.2 square miles...

...The first cemeteries and memorials to the dead of the Ypres Salient sprang up pretty much straight away. 10,500 British Expeditionary Force soldiers lost their lives during the First Battle of Ypres in 1914."

Information taken from: https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/ypres-battlefield-tours-and-sites-a-visitor-s-guide/ 

The students were accompanied by Miss Simmons, Miss Watson, Miss Wallace, Miss Paradise and Mr Strudwick. They were the perfect ambassadors for THS and a pleasure to visit Belgium with.