In the autumn term, Year 6 began their year learning about WWII. Their Key Question was ‘How can we live in peace?’ On one side of Vimy Monument lays the tomb of the Unknown Soldier: an unidentified dead soldier representing all those lost during the tragedy that was WWI. Resting on top of the tomb is a helmet and sword as a symbol that war was over and weapons were no longer needed. The greatest tragedy was not the war itself but that since the war, humankind has not learnt its lesson – conflict still prevails in our world. For this cohort, war has never felt more real.

The day begun, post breakfast, with a two hour drive to Wellington Quarry situated where the Battle of Arras claimed 150,000 British casualties. The impressive limestone quarry housed 1,500 soldiers from allied forces from Britain, France, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia – poiniantly, nationalities all represented in our diverse group.

Most impressive was the 10km network of tunnels in the quarry 60 feet below the ground dug by 450 New Zealand miners, working non-stop to reach the German forces and surprise them from below. The quarry was also used by Germans in WWII. 

The quarry and its tunnels are a reminder of the scale of loss during WWI: 443,000 died at the Battle of Somme and 300,000 at the Battle of Verdun – both nearby. However, it also acts as a reminder of what can be achieved when we come together as allies – we are stronger together. 

Following lunch and further opportunity to use our Euros (thank you parents) in the gift shop, we coached a further 10 minutes to Vimy Ridge – a hill where nearby the British and German trenches were separated by only 20 metres of No Man’s Land.

As we walked along trenches which snaked through huge craters left by mortar shelling, we heard of the horrific conditions of trench warfare.

A 10 minute walk took us to the impressive Vimy Monument. Built in recognition of those 11,285 lost Canadians but also to remember the first major Canadian success in the war as they overcame the Germans to take hold of the hill. The monument is covered in the names of missing bodies – possibly distant relatives…

Sun-kissed and tired, we now roll through the French countryside – so green, so lush, so peaceful; you’d never imagine to the east – in Ukraine – soldiers, parents, children, huddle underground as the ground above them makes the same earthquakes from artillery attacks of 1914-18. We pray for you all.

We also pray that Miss Caspersz can finally get the DVD player working so we can watch the last 30 minutes of Kung Fu Panda!

More to follow later.