Read extracts from the children's work below...

At their Remembrance Day service on Tuesday, Kings' School pupils read moving extracts recalling their trip to World War One battlefields in Tyne Cot, Belgium, last month. More than 100 Kings' pupils travel to the fields every year.

Rev Neil Birkett led a service of hymns, prayers and readings attended by old boys of its forerunner, St Thomas's.

After two minutes' silence the old boys laid wreaths bearing the names of former pupils who fell in war. They have attended the school service for 20 years and are appealing for more members as their numbers dwindle.

Here are a few extracts from what was read:

Yelena Bennett, Year 9

“To us, war seems so far away and nothing for us to worry about. We go about our day to day lives and cannot begin to imagine the horror and torment that some have had to suffer or are suffering now. Of course we know the facts and figures from history class, but these are just numbers.

“I think that was the biggest shock that we felt when we visited Tyne Cot in Belgium about a month ago. The truly devastating amount of people that died.

“I remember when we got onto the coach we were thrilled to be in France and going to Belgium. The atmosphere was light and we were excited and happy as any other children would have been on a school trip.

“Finally we reached our destination and got out of the coach. A silence fell upon us and the atmosphere quickly changed at the realisation of how many soldiers perished. We were surrounded in a sea of white, uniformed graves. They carried on for as long as you could see.

“Along the cemetery there was a long wall that was once again a pristine white colour. Each panel had a certain amount of names and if you looked along the whole wall you could see thousands and thousands.

“It was all those soldiers that had enrolled in the army and then went missing in action, their bodies never recovered. There were Joneses, Smiths, Whites, Whitleys, Hopes, Hodgkinsons and many more surnames. I think it hit us harder than we expected because we recognised all these surnames and realised that these people were just like us. They each had brothers and sisters, mums and dads or wives and children.

“Behind each and every single name there were family and friends who had cared and loved this person. Family and friends that were deeply affected and in pain that I cannot begin to imagine when they found out about the death of their loved one.

“The reality of this brought a lot of emotions. Sadness, bitterness, pride and anger. Anger because we know that after this world war, where many had suffered, the next war was near. And now, after two world wars, both killing millions of people, there was still conflict in some parts of the world that could not be resolved with words alone. How can causing this much suffering and hurt be humane?”

Anna Thomas, Izi Hill and Niamh Millward, Year 9:

“As we turned the corner into the cemetery, a wave of anguish came over me as I took in the sight of a never-ending field of pearl white headstones stretching out across the land.

"I walked between the crosses, row on row, and I realised that every single one of these graves was a man once. A man who fought for my freedom and without which I may not be speaking English today, or I may not even be alive to tell you this.

“Every single soldier who fought for our country in World War One was and still is a hero and we will be eternally grateful for their sacrifice of their own lives, so that we could be here today."

Maia Whittingham, Year 9:

“A poppy flutters in the wind,
As I watch I start to think.

What were the lives of those men like?
The lives of those sent to fight.

“One hundred years on from this day,
Many had to go away.

Leave and fight in a far-off land;
Sent to their deaths with one command.

“Many felt it their duty to apply,
Others certain they’d come back alive.

So off they marched across to France,
Thinking they had a decent chance.

“But their lives would never be the same,
Changed men they quickly became.

The haunting memories of the war:
Gas crawling up the walls.

“Now they were merely ghosts of themselves,
Spirits drooping, not in good health,
Losing friends before their eyes,
Tortured by the heartwrenching cries.

“Never would they cease to dream,
Of the horrors they had seen.

Waking, screaming in the night
Tormented by the lingering fright.

"The pain and suffering they struggled through,
Must always be remembered by me and you.

For those who sacrificed themselves, I’m sure,
Will be kept in our hearts forever more.”

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