On Tuesday and Wednesday of Remembrance Week, Year 9 Historians at Saint Aidan’s were treated to a virtual reality experience of warfare and medicine on the British Sector of the Western Front. A former member of the Royal Army Medical Corps and subject specialist, Sergeant Parsons, delivered an unforgettable series of sessions immersing students in the sights and sounds of a frontline trench, the daily routines of soldiers, and what it was like to ‘go over the top’.
Pupils journeyed through the ‘Chain of Evacuation’ that injured ‘Tommies’ traversed following triage at the Regimental Aid Post in Belgium and France. The session concluded with pupils visiting soldiers with more serious injuries such as compound fractures from bullet wounds and extreme cases of ‘trench foot’ in a Casualty Clearing Station. Here pupils learned from medical staff in the RAMC about cutting edge medical procedures and techniques developed by medics during the First World War, saving thousands of men’s lives.
Year 9 student Ross McOmish commented: “This experience was fantastic! The VR headset was very realistic and I found it very interesting to develop what I had been learning in lesson. The VR was exciting and made me feel like I was in the trenches.”
Pupils and staff extend a huge thank you to Time Travel Education and Sergeant Parsons for two fantastic days of learning.
