Are you looking for a school trip that brings to life the advancements in medicine during WW1?
This school trips to the WW1 battlefields around Ypres focuses on the journey of a WW1 soldier. On the first day, your group will travel to Ypres to learn about what he would have experienced on the frontline. And you will visit the graves of soldiers, both Commonwealth and German, to learn how many fell and now rest on those frontlines.
On day 2, your students will learn about the Battle of Arras, with visits to Vimy Ridge to see the trenches and Wellington Quarry to enjoy a guided tour of the tunnels there. The day will end poignantly with your group invited to attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate.
On day 3, you will follow a soldier’s evacuation route from the frontline to an advanced dressing station, on to a casualty clearing station and then back to the UK.
By following this journey, your students will experience how conditions on the Western Front revolutionised medicine and surgery and how these advancements are still important in modern-day medicine.
Suggested Itinerary (3 days, 2 nights)
| Day | Morning Summary | Afternoon Summary | Evening Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Coach departs from school Ferry crossing |
Arrive in Calais Drive to Zonnebeke Visit the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 for the British Dugout and German Trench Experience Visit Tyne Cot British Cemetery Visit Langemark German Cemetery |
Check in to accommodation Evening meal |
| 2 |
Breakfast at accommodation Drive to Arras Stop at Vimy Ridge to visit the monument and the trenches Visit to Notre Dame de Lorette French Cemetery and Memorial |
Visit to Wellington Quarry for a guided tour of the tunnels |
Evening meal at accommodation Visit to the Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony |
| 3 |
Breakfast at accommodation Visit to the Hooge Crater Museum where your group can visit the medical evacuation exhibition Visit to the advanced dressing station at Essex Farm Visit to Brandhoek Cemetery, field ambulance post |
Group to visit the death cells and shooting post in Poperinge followed by Lijssenthoek cemetery, former casualty clearing station Drive the route from Lijssenthoek to Hazebrock and then across to St Omer past Wallon-Cappel, which is the original trainline that brought supplies to and soldiers to the frontline and took the injured back to the UK Arrive in Calais |
Ferry crossing Arrive in Dover Return to school |
- 2 night's half-board hostel accommodation with students in multibedded rooms and staff in twins/singles
- Access to the Vamoos app to download all tour-related travel documents
- Comprehensive travel and medical insurance including I.P.T.
- Visits as per the itinerary
- Free itinerary planning service
- Free staff place ratio 1:8
- Detailed information pack
- Motorway tolls and taxes
- Return executive coach travel
- Return ferry or Eurotunnel crossings
- VAT at current rates to tour operators
Curriculum Links
A-Level
- Developments in British warfare
- Life in wartime Britain
- Life in the trenches
- Challenges of German nationalism
GCSE
- History of medicine
- Conflict and tension: WW1
- Developments in British warfare
- Life in wartime Britain
- The Western Front
- Medicine in Britain
Key Stage 3
- Challenges for Europe and the wider world, 1901
Primary
- British history beyond 1066
