Today has been another tremendous day in Belgium.

The day got off to a great start with a visit to ‘In Flanders Field Exhibition’. A fantastic interactive museum which the students fully engaged with - they were brilliant. The students got so much from the visit, asking thoughtful questions and taking their time to interact with all of the exhibits.

We then had an added bonus of visiting Tyne Cot cemetery one of the largest Commonwealth cemeteries in the world - a very moving and humbling experience.

From there we moved on to Sanctuary Wood (Hill 62). Here we visited a museum with a large number of WWI artefacts and then walked into the woods themselves to experience a series of second line trenches.

After that we visited Langemark Cemetery a German war graves cemetery to contrast the different styles of cemetery and remembrance.

Our final stop of the day was Essex Farm a former dressing station which was just a few miles from the front line right on the edge of Ypres itself.

It was at Essex Farm in 1915 that a Canadian medical officer, John McCrea, wrote one of the most famous poems of WWI ‘In Flanders Fields’ which would go on to inspire the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance after the war.

In the evening we visited the Menin Gate to experience The Last Post, a ceremony that has taken place every evening since the memorial’s construction in 1928. It really brings home the enormity of the sacrifices made - especially as the Gate is inscribed with the names of the 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers whose graves are unknown.

What a poignant way to round off another excellent day.

- Ms D Walker