Diary of an NQT: My first residential trip

I spent the first week of this term in Belgium with our year 10 students, visiting the battlefields and cemeteries of the First World War.

The aim of the trip was to deepen our students’ understanding of the topic, bringing the horrors of the Great War to life in a way that cannot be done in a classroom.

I also found the trip to be invaluable to my own professional development and have returned to school with a greater sense of confidence in my ability to deliver this part of the curriculum.

We departed from school on Tuesday afternoon to catch the overnight ferry to Bruges. From there, we drove through Belgium to the town of Ypres, the site of three major battles during the war. The town is a beautiful place with a tangible sense of pride in the sacrifices made 100 years ago. The town was utterly destroyed by the end of the war and had to be entirely rebuilt.