VISIT TO YPRES & THE SOMME, Current Year Eight: 8th – 11th October 2016

VISIT TO YPRES & THE SOMME, Current Year Eight: 8th – 11th October 2016

We are proposing to take the current Year 8 History Students away on a 4 day tour to the Battlefields of Ypres and The Somme in Belgium and France.

The visit will be based around the historic events of the First World War and is a truly worthwhile trip for all History students who will be doing an in depth study into the First World War in Year 9.  As well as the opportunity to experience at first hand the locations of some of the most momentous events of the First World War, the students will be able to visit the Trench Museum where they will be able to see the underground tunnels which were used as shelters during the war and have now been turned into a World War 1 museum.  We will also be taking part in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate.

It is a busy itinerary, leaving Chauncy at about 06.30 hrs on Saturday 8th October 2016 and travelling via Eurotunnel to Ypres, where students will have the opportunity for some free time to visit the chocolate stores.  We will visit Hill 60, Essex Farm Field Dressing Station and Bedford House Cemetery.  We will visit the Passchendaele Museum, the preserved trenches at Sanctuary Wood and Hill 62 museum, the Commonwealth Tyne Cot Cemetery and German Langemarck mass grave.  As well as visiting sites in Belgium, we will also travel to France via the Vimy Ridge Memorial to the battlefields of the Somme, visiting the museum, Thiepval, and The Lochnager mine Crater. We will be based at the Peace Village Messines.  Students will share quad rooms with en suite facilities.

On our final day we will load the coach and check out from our hotel after breakfast.  We will visit some local cemeteries before returning to Calais for the 16.00 hrs Eurotunnel to Folkestone.  We will return to Chauncy at approximately 18.00 hrs.

The cost of this visit will be £250.00 per student, which includes transport, full board hostel accommodation, entry to all museums and a tour hoodie, but does not include spending money.  The price is based on 46 students travelling.  This is always a very popular trip and it fills very quickly.  Participation on the trip is dependent upon good student behaviour and we reserve the right to withdraw a student from the trip if we feel their behaviour will jeopardise the safety and enjoyment of the other students.

We require payment of £50.00 non-refundable deposit by FRIDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2016.  The remaining £200.00 may be paid in 4 instalments on 1st March, 1st April, 1st May and 1st June.  All students have Wisepay accounts and to be fair to all pupils, we will make the trip available at 8.30am on Friday 5th February 2016.  No payments will be accepted before this date.  If you require a reminder of your login details  or how to use Wisepay, please contact the Finance Office before this date.

All students will need to have their own valid passport and EHIC card (available free of charge from www.ehic.org.uk).  Once payment has been made, please complete and return the Reply Slip, giving details of your wisepay payment, and attaching a copy of your child’s passport (we can copy your child’s passport in school if you are unable to do this).

We very much hope that you will give permission for your son/daughter to come with us.  If the cost is too difficult to meet, please contact the Finance Office to discuss your situation in complete confidence. We have aimed to keep the cost to a minimum.  In the event of an unexpected surplus, we would appreciate the opportunity to retain funds in the school, in accordance with our Charging Policy.

An information evening will be held for parents and students nearer the time of the tour, when confirmed details of departure times, kit and spending money will be advised.

Ypres and Somme trip 8-11 Oct 2016

reply slip Ypres and Somme oct 2016 Ypres and Somme trip 8-11 Oct 2016

Yours faithfully,

Miss J. Bayley (Teacher of History)