Emotional trip to WW1 landmarks Journey in life that fourth year students won’t forget
The fourth year history students of St Aidan’s High School are just back from their visit to battlefields of the First World War in Belgium.
Dur ing the visit they experienced many historical landmarks such as the trenches of the First World War, the graves of Ypres and the Menin Gate memorial.
We asked three of the pupils what they thought of the trip, Ellie Higgins said “Learning about the war was really interesting, it was an emotional journey as well as an educational one.
“Seeing no man’s land was shocking, it was definitely a life experience.”
Christy Lennon said: “The trip was unforgettable, it really helped improve our understanding of the events that took place in World War One and the soldiers that gave their lives for their countries just short of one hundred years ago.
“The stories we heard of the soldiers in the war were truly moving.”
Hannah Leonard added: “There was such a great atmosphere the whole time, we would wake up to war songs as if we were actually part of a Battalion. It was all very dramatic.”
Miss Jennifer Gallagher, a history teacher at St Aidan’s, organised the event and when asked for her thoughts she commented: “The trip to Belgium was once again very interesting, both staff and students thoroughly enjoyed it. The pupils were a credit to their school, showing interest and respect at the historical battleground.”
Senior Awards Ceremony: The school hall was packed out with students and their proud families on Tuesday, September 13 for the annual awards ceremony to celebrate the success of our students in past year. Awards for academic excellence, endeavour and contribution to the school community were made.
The guest speaker was Paul Hughes, former student of St Aidan’s who has gone on to highly successful career in law and is currently senior associate in Quinn Emanuel’s London office. Mrs Connelly, Acting Head Teacher felt that this was an excellent contribution to the evening.
The school band entertained the students and their guests and performed to their usual very high standard.
Mrs Connelly went on to thank the huge range of staff across the school who contributed to making the evening such a success.
Numeracy Week: Across the School
Students enjoyed a whole school focus on numeracy this week. Mr Tony McDonald, Principal Teacher of Mathematics had coordinated events across a range of events to raise the profile of all things related to numeracy.
Mr MacDonald explained: “The main idea was to involve mathematics in other subjects and to link the experiences together to improve learning.
“We want students to use mathematics to help them solve problems across the school and not just in their mathematics class.
The students certainly enjoyed the experience. When asked about the activities Lucy Graham, a new first year student, said: “We did maths activities in other subjects like R.E and Art. I enjoyed the Home Economics part and found it helpful because it helped us to measure and make a pillow”.
First year student Zak Wootton said: “My favourite part was science.
“You get to do experiments involving measurements.
“I also thought the profiles we had to fill in were useful.”
The stories we heard of the soldiers in the war were truly moving . . .