Normandy trip shows pupils reality of war

CHECKING out a German T1 tank

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A SCHOOL trip to Normandy was branded a huge success by the 188 Blue Coat School pupils who made the journey.

And the trip — the biggest ever organised by the Oldham school — is the first of what will become an annual overseas trek to help pupils get an understanding of the places and events they learn about in history.

The 12 and 13 year-olds visited Normandy, scene of the Allied invasion of occupied Europe in 1944.

Teacher Mike Platt explained: “We wanted to give them an experience of learning which was different to anything they could get in the classroom. In France, the pupils were seeing and doing. The only written work they did was completing diaries in the evening.”

One of the most gripping experiences was a visit to Sword Beach — one of three where British forces landed on D-Day in 1944.

The pupils carried coloured cards, and when their colour was held up by a teacher they fell to their knees to represent the soldiers who fell under Nazi fire.

Mr Platt recalled: “The few who made it to the top turned round to see the rest scattered on the beach.

“You could have heard a pin drop. It was eerie and very moving.

“You can teach that as often as you want to in the classroom but nothing beats being there and seeing how it happened.”

The youngsters also visited the Bayeux war cemetery where they laid wreaths and each laid a cross and a poppy on the grave of a soldier they had researched, including 22-year-old Pte John Abbott, from Chadderton, who died while serving in the East Lancashire Regiment.

Other visits included Arromanches and the 360 degree cinema which puts the audience at the centre of a war scene, Pegasus Bridge and glider landing sites used during the invasion, Mont St Michel, Gougeres Castle, the Bayeux Tapestry, and an animal sanctuary housing rescued creatures from all parts of the world.