Combine visits to the Somme battlefields and Vimy Ridge for students to gain insight into trench warfare on the Western Front, including a unique visit underground.
Trench warfare was one of the most important aspects of WW1, where both sides were often very close together. The trenches provided troops with cover, a place to rest and a front line to fight in. This two-day tour around the Somme and Vimy Ridge gives students an insight into life in trenches as well as visiting and learning about key battles and battlefields from WW1.
KS3 National Curriculum – The First World War and the Peace Settlement
OCR GCSE Syllabus – War and British Society 1790-2010
OCR GCSE Syllabus – Depth Study- Britain in Peace and War 1900-1918
EdExcel GCSE Syllabus – Thematic Study and Historic Environment – Medicine in Britain and the British Sector of the Western Front 1914-1918: Injuries, Treatment and the Trenches
AQA GCSE Syllabus – Period Studies – Germany, 1890-1945:Democracy and Dictatorship
AQA GCSE Syllabus – Wider World Depth Studies – Conflict and Tension, 1894-1918
Specialist Battlefield Guide. For larger groups we have two guides per booking.
Tour pack of information and resources to use in the classroom.
Entrance to all museums and trenches.
Accommodation in student accommodation in Somme area.
1 breakfast, 1 lunch and 1 dinner.
Travel by coach from your school.
Channel crossings.
After an early morning departure from the school, we proceed to the Channel Tunnel and travel to France.
We begin our day at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. Here we visit the new museum, look at the Memorialisation of the First World War, and the subject of missing soldiers in WW1.
We visit the Ulster Tower to look at one of the battlefields fought over on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Here we also go into Thiepval Wood and see trenches and positions uncovered by a team of archaeologists and have the opportunity to safely handle WW1 objects.
In the battlefield cemeteries here we look at the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and on the high ground above the Ancre Valley look at the landscape and the importance of high ground on a battlefield. We also look at war poetry in WW1 discussing the poets who fought on this part of the Somme battlefield.
We end the day at the Lochnagar Mine Crater at La Boisselle to examine the ‘war underground’ and mine warfare on the Western Front in WW1. From here we check in to our accommodation in the Somme area and have an evening meal
Included meals: Dinner
Thiepval Memorial
Thiepval Wood
Lochnagar Mine Crater
Ulster Tower
This morning, we depart the Somme for Arras, where we visit the Wellington Quarries and safely go underground into quarries used by the British Army as a shelter system in 1917.
We look at life beneath the Western Front, seeing where men lived and slept, and made their way to take part in the Battle of Arras in April 1917. A unique experience in the British sector of the Western Front.
At the Arras Memorial to the Missing we see the Air Services Memorial and examine the War in the Air, as well as looking into the real history behind Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Private Peaceful’ and visit the graves of soldiers who were ‘Shot at Dawn’.
We then examine the German Army in WW1 and get insight into the huge losses sustained by visiting the German Cemetery at La Targette, with more than 44,000 burials.
We then visit Vimy Ridge. This impressive battlefield was an area fought over between 1915 and 1917. Here we look at the development of trench warfare, walk through preserved British and German trench systems, and see mine craters from the ‘war underground’.
We also visit the Vimy Memorial to examine the memorialisation of the First World War and discuss missing soldiers.
We then return home via the Channel Tunnel with arrival back at the school expected in the late evening.
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Vimy Ridge
Wellington Quarry
Arras Memorial
Vimy Ridge Memorial
If you would like more information or would like to customise this tour to suit your needs, get in touch today.
Each of our tours are tailor made to suit your school’s specific requirements.
Our team of experienced specialist guides are both passionate and knowledgeable.
Our tours are carefully designed to meet the aims of the National Curriculum.
You can rest assured that your school trips are safe and financially secured.
