TWO pupils from Westleigh High School have been developing their understanding of the First World War by taking in a battlefield tour.

Caleb and Alanna Anderson along with their teacher, Ashleigh Jackson, travelled to Belgium and Northern France as part of The First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme, funded by the Department for Education.

They joined students from 15 other schools on a four-day tour to the Western Front accompanied by professional battlefield guides and serving soldiers.

The group visited museums, battlefield sites, memorials and cemeteries including the Commonwealth War Grave sites of Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres, Belgium and Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France.

Mrs Jackson said: “The centenary project has provided both myself and the students with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the soldiers from the First World War.

“The visit to the Somme battlefield was particularly moving as we were accompanied by a serving soldier who also shared his experience and opinions on how the soldiers of 1916 would have been feeling on the eve before the battle.”

Caleb, aged 16 and 15-year-old Alanna also visited the grave of Leigh soldier Lieutenant J.K Hunter, of the Royal Engineers who was killed in action aged 26 on September 6 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres.

Caleb said: “Being able to visit the war graves was truly phenomenal. It felt like an honour to visit the cemeteries and memorials for both the known and missing.”

On their return to school students will embark on a Legacy 110 project.

This project encourages students to share their experiences of visiting the battlefield sites of the Western Front through developing a web page about the importance of remembrance.