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WWI Battlefield Trips for Schools

A WWI battlefield trip offers students the opportunity to experience the surreal settings of wartime conflict. Your history students will benefit from first-hand details of what life was like in combat, with a range of different battlefield trips to some of the most historical sites from the Great War. 

We'll help you to plan the ultimate WWI battlefield trip for your history group. Our team can provide assistance with booking travel, tours, delivering educational materials and more. This ensures you have everything you need for an enrichening and fun learning experience.

Locations of NSTs World War 1 Battlefield trips

Our WWI battlefield trips span many locations, offering history students the chance to explore a selection of symbolic sites from the First World War. These include: 

  • In Flanders Fields Museum
  • Menin Gate & the Last Post Ceremony
  • Sanctuary Wood Museum & Hill 62
  • Passchendaele Memorial Museum
  • Hooge Crater Museum and Trenches Experience 
  • Ypres Walking Tours
  • The Somme Battlefield trip

Why book a WWI battlefield trip?

There are countless benefits to booking a WWI battlefield trip for your class. Our battlefield school tours cover the events of the war in considerable historical detail, particularly in the Ypres Salient and Somme regions. First-hand experiences of this historical landscape will help your students appreciate the history of the First World War, helping them to understand the significance of what took place. 

Teachers can benefit from a school trip to a WW1 battlefield too. Students who embark on our battlefield trips take lots of educational value and invaluable experiences that simply can’t be replicated in the classroom. 

The benefits of booking Battlefield Trips with NST

When you book a battlefield trip with NST, you’ll benefit from the following features:  

  • Access to NST’s Château d’Ebblinghem - NST’s exclusive school group accommodation on the Opal Coast in Northern France is ideally located for WWI Battlefield trips to French Battlefields and will make your role as group leader that bit easier!
  • Subject Experts - All of our Subject Experts are professional academics, historians and writers with incomparable knowledge of their subject area. They have the ability to communicate their learning in a way that will enlighten and stimulate your pupils whilst on a battlefield trip.
  • ABTA & ATOL protection - This provides you with financial security and peace of mind that you're protected no matter what.

Get in touch with NST today for more information and advice on planning your ideal WWI battlefield school trip, or take a look at some of our most popular options below.

Browse our curriculum-linked school trips to the First World War Battlefields

We provide lots of subject-specific battlefield trips, designed to combine learning elements of History, English or Religious Studies with the historical context of the WW1 battlefields. Our range of curriculum-linked battlefield school trips includes: 

  • English Literature battlefield trips
  • Religious Studies battlefield trips
  • History - Ypres and the Somme day trips
  • History - Ypres and the Somme trips
  • History - Medicine and Surgery on the Western Front 

All of our school battlefield trips are created with the aim of delivering value to your students. If there are any areas that you would like us to focus on for your battlefield trip then please get in touch and we will be happy to discuss to get the most educational value out of a school trip. 

History - Ypres & The Somme Battlefield Trips

History - Ypres & The Somme

Our established Ypres & the Somme history tour programme covers the events of WWI in the Ypres Salient and Somme regions, enabling your pupils to learn from a wealth of important historical sites and excursions.

Learn more about our trips to Ypres & the Somme.

History - Medicine & Surgery on the Western Front

History - Medicine & Surgery on the Western Front

For groups studying Medicine and Surgery on the Western Front, our established WWI Battlefields tours programme will give context to the events in the Ypres Salient and Somme regions and allow pupils to gain understanding of medical treatments, developments and historical context of medicine in the early 20th Century.

Learn more about our medicine & surgery on the Western front trips.

English Literature - Battlefield trips

English Literature

Bring the literature of the war to life for your pupils with an English school trip to the battlefields region and gain an unforgettable insight into the effects of the war on iconic writers.

Learn more about our English trips to the battlefields

Religious Studies

Religious studies

Our established WWI Battlefields religious study tours give pupils a deeper emotional connection with wartime events, providing them with the opportunity to appreciate the scale of sacrifice.

Learn more about our religious studies trips to the battlefields.

History - Ypres & The Somme day trips

History - Ypres & The Somme day trips

Our battlefields day trip is a great option for groups on a budget. Covering Ypres Salient and the Somme, our established First World War battlefields tour programme enables pupils to learn from a wealth of historical sites.

Learn more about our battlefields day trips.


Experience a First World War battlefields tour with our short video

First World War battlefield trip highlights - our groups love...

We’ve arranged lots of battlefield school trips for groups and we always receive amazing feedback from teachers and students alike. We’ve selected some of the best WWI trip highlights, with lots of detail on what you and your students can expect during your visit. 

In Flanders Field Museum
 

In Flanders Field Museum

This superb state-of-the-art, interactive museum is now an even richer experience with the updated larger museum. Covering most aspects of the war in Flanders, each visitor will receive a wristband that will take them on a journey in the museum through the eyes of someone who was there.

Sanctuary Wood Museum & Hill 62
 

Sanctuary Wood Museum & Hill 62

Located close to the original front lines, this fascinating visit shows well-preserved British trenches and covered passageways, as well as a section of the underground tunnel system. The museum consists of two rooms housing many artefacts removed from the battlefields. Plus, a large and rare collection of three-dimensional photo images inside special viewing boxes.

Passchendaele Memorial Museum
 

Passchendaele Memorial Museum

Commemorating the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, this museum has been enlarged. There is now an underground exhibition focusing on the battle, a network of open-air trenches and a new remembrance gallery. A full-day interactive platoon experience is also available; call us for more details.

Hooge Crater Museum and Trenches Experience
 

Hooge Crater Museum and Trenches Experience

This is a truly unique tour experience for students. Original artefacts & full-scale reconstructions of battlefield scenes can be found in the Museum Hooge Crater. Sample a must-see selection of weapons from 1914-18, war equipment and photos of all the armies that fought during those four years!

We can reserve a time slot in the trenches just for your group, so you can explore them on your own.

Newfoundland Park
 

Newfoundland Park

Newfoundland Park is undoubtedly one of the largest and best-preserved trench memorials on the Western Front. Just outside the park lies Hawthorn Crater and within it are the ‘Danger Tree’ and remains of the British Front Line. The German Front Line can be seen across No Man’s Land.

Thiepval Memorial & Visitor Centre
 

Thiepval Memorial & Visitor Centre

This is the largest memorial for the British missing on the Western Front. The location contains the names of over 73,000 men who died in the Somme section before 20th March 1918 and have no known graves. The visitor centre houses an informative exhibition designed to aid understanding of the history of Thiepval during WWI.

Ypres Walking Tour

Ypres Walking Tour

This tour of the city includes:

  • The Cloth Hall
  • St George’s Anglican Church
  • The Menin Gate (Britain’s major memorial to its missing)
  • The Lille Gate Cemetery - A beautiful example of the work of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Your group will then return to Ypres for an evening meal and attend the daily Last Post Ceremony at The Menin Gate to witness a moving act of remembrance by the people of the city.

Vimy Ridge
 

Vimy Ridge

The scene of fierce fighting in 1917, when the Canadians successfully took the ridge from the Germans. Students can take a tour of the tunnels, trenches and cemeteries.

Menin Gate & Last Post Ceremony
 

Menin Gate & Last Post Ceremony

The largest and the most important of the British memorials to the Missing in The Salient. The Menin Gate holds the names of 54,896 soldiers of the British Empire. This memorial marked the start of one of the main roads out of Ypres towards the Front Line. Following a meal at a local restaurant, your students will witness the moving ‘Last Post Ceremony’ which takes place every evening at 8pm.

Book your next school battlefield trip with confidence

With NST your peace of mind is guaranteed, thanks to our comprehensive package of financial protection. Our market-leading ‘Book with Confidence’ promise gives you all the reassurance you need when booking and paying for your trip and provide the full range of financial protection measures as recommended by the DfE.    

  • COVID Cancellation Protection - including full refund option

  • Extended Payment Terms - to support with financial planning

  • Financial Security - fully ABTA & ATOL protected

 

First World War Battlefields school trip experts

We've been arranging First World War battlefield trips since 1967; we take over 10,000 students on battlefield tours each year. Our team regularly visits Ypres and The Somme to really get to know the ins and outs of the area. This ensures we always provide the highest quality accommodation, tours and transport for our trips.

Your school battlefield trip coordinator will use their knowledge to create a bespoke itinerary that's perfectly timed and meets your exact school travel needs.

Planning your first school trip?

If you're planning your first school trip, our essential guide will take you through each step of the process...

  • Choosing your destination
  • Gaining approval from your Local Authority and/or your Head
  • Promoting your tour in school
  • Confirming your booking
  • Tailor-make your tour
  • Completing your risk assessments (including a sample risk assessment)
  • Quick reference timeline
  • Pre-tour checklist

 

Explore the WWI Battlefields with our history subject experts

We offer the chance to take one of our history Subject Experts on your battlefields trip. 

Our Subject Experts are former teachers with detailed knowledge of the current curriculum. They are selected to meet your exact tour requirements, helping your group to get even more from their time outside the classroom. Our Subject Experts are passionate about their subject areas, meaning they're well prepared to meet your group's needs.

Additional support, resources & information:

Tour planning service

Tour planning service

With NST, you’ll get your own dedicated, knowledgeable Tour Co-ordinator who’ll work with you from start to finish. You’ll benefit from their unrivalled destination knowledge, and their experience gained from working with many other groups too. They’ll tailor-make your itinerary from scratch and take care of everything for you:

  • Pulling together an itinerary that runs smoothly
  • Planning the right balance of visits every day with realistic timings
  • Pre-arranging and pre-booking your visits, entrance tickets, passes and meals


You’ll receive your final itinerary a full 4-weeks before you travel too.

Free school trip promotion pack

Free school trip promotion pack

We’ll support you and provide everything you need to advertise your school trip around school and to parents. Our free school trip promotion pack consists of:

  • Parents’ letter & permission slip template for you to complete A3 posters to promote your trip around school
  • PowerPoint presentation templates which you can tailor to your own needs
  • Parents’ leaflets covering how NST manage safety, financial protection and details of our travel insurance
  • Online parents’ video which showcases the benefits of taking a school trip


For selected destinations, we’ll provide a trip launch web page using video footage and imagery. This web page is provided by a weblink and can be shared with pupils and parents in many ways.

Risk assessment support including preview visits

Risk assessment support including preview visits

Risk assessment plays a vitally important part in the planning and organisation on any school tour.

Our risk assessment guide aims to help you understand more about your obligations and how you can more effectively manage group safety on your next educational visit and provide you with risk assessments for your trip. 

Planning first school trip

Planning first school trip

Organising your first school trip can appear to be a daunting process.

If you're planning your first school trip, our guide will help to take you through each step of the planning process, answering frequently asked questions and providing tips and support along the way.

Our helpful guide covers the following:

  • Choosing your destination
  • Gaining approval from your Local Authority and/or your Head
  • Promoting your tour in school
  • Confirming your booking
  • Tailor-make your tour
  • Completing your risk assessments (including a sample risk assessment)
  • Quick reference timeline
  • Pre-tour checklist


View our essential guide to a successful school trip here.

Get live updates on your group's tour location

Get live updates on your group's tour location

Locate My Trip uses GPS technology and is the easy, convenient way for your school to follow your location whilst on tour. Specifically designed to provide reassurance to both parents and teachers, NST will know where your group are 24/7. If your schedule needs to change, we’ll put plans in place to keep your tour on track. 

With Locate My Trip your group can also share photos and videos with the school and parents, via a secure link, to keep them updated on your experience whilst you’re away.

Watch our short Locate My Trip video here.

Your online school trip organiser - My Tour Manager

Your online school trip organiser - My Tour Manager

Save time and stay on track with your school trip admin with our online orgnaniser - designed to help busy teachers like you.

With My Tour Manager, you'll be able to download FREE resources and access trip paperwork online and in one place. Your personalised checklist details what you need to do and by when, plus you'll receive fortnightly reminders too.

What's more, you can take all your trip documents on the go whilst on your tour with our app, My Tour Manager-On-the-Go.

Find out more and watch out short My Tour Manager video here.

Free classroom resources

Free classroom resources

We've created a range of free geography resources and educational posters to brighten up your classroom!

Take a look at our downloadable posters here.

Brexit & your school trip

Brexit & your school trip

How will Brexit affect my school trip?

Following the end of the transition period there are several changes that will affect groups travelling with us to the EU.

For more information on these changes, visit our dedicated Brexit page here.

If you're travelling with NST and have any specific questions. please contact your Educational Travel Advisor.

Why choose NST...

Here's why thousands of teachers choose NST each year...

  • Unrivalled knowledge

Your dedicated tour co-ordinator will use their unrivalled local knowledge and expertise of the WWI Battlefields to create a tailor-made, curriculum-linked itinerary to meet your group’s exact needs.

  • Making it easier for you

With our online school trip organiser, travel app, FREE classroom posters and trip launch resources to support in-school promotion.

  • Risk assessment guidance

Our risk assessment guidance will help you to manage group safety on your next educational trip. 

  • FREE group leader inspection visits

We offer a free inspection visit to your chosen destination to support your risk assessment planning.

 

  • Value for money

We’re committed to bringing you the best possible value trips to help make every penny count.

  • Peace of mind

Your group’s location can be followed with our trip tracking device - Locate My Trip - plus you’ll have 24/7 support from us whilst you’re away.

  • More than 50 years’ experience

With over 50 years’ experience, with NST you can rest assured that your group is in safe hands.

  • Offsetting carbon emissions

For every trip taken, we'll plant a Maya nut tree in Peru to support reforestation, local communities & biodiversity. Plus, we'll offset an additional tonne of CO2 to guarantee carbon emission reductions. 

Looking for protection on your next school trip? 

Booking with a school travel company is the best way for you to protect parents’ money and give yourself peace of mind.  

 

Don’t forget – if your school arranges transport, accommodation and other services directly, you’ll be liable under the Package Travel Regulations – meaning you’ll have all the responsibilities of a travel company, both legal and financial.

Financial protection from the moment you book

NST are fully bonded:

  • ABTA
  • ATOL
  • IATA

 

Managing safety on school trips

For your protection, NST's independently audited Safety Management System covers:

  • 24-hour emergency cover
  • Audited accommodation & transport
  • Excursions & school visit assessment
  • Group leader preview visits to assist with risk assessment planning

We're LOtC Council’s Quality Badge assured

The Department for Education advises schools to always look for the LOtC Quality Badge when choosing a school travel provider.

Students are safe on battlefield trips

There is no need to worry when you book a battlefield tour with NST. With our safety management system you have 24-hour emergency cover on all of your trips incase anything goes wrong giving you peace of mind.