A trip to the battlefields will be a history lesson like no other for Engadine High School teacher, Lisa Waygood.
Ms Waygood is one of three NSW teachers who will visit the trenches of the Western Front this year.
She was selected as a recipient of the 2018 Premier’s Anzac memorial scholarship tour.
The 13-day tour will give teachers and year 10 and 11 students the opportunity to experience Australia’s military story first-hand in Ypres, Passchendaele, the Somme and Flanders in Belgium.
The delegation will also attend the official centenary commemoration of the Battle of Le Hamel, France, where Lieutenant General Sir John Monash commanded the Australian Corps.
Ms Waygood was successful in an interview with representatives from the Office for Veterans Affairs, the Department of Education and the History Teachers’ Association of NSW.
She says walking in the footsteps of the Diggers will benefit her students.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity to bring back first-hand knowledge to my students and share it with them so it broadens their understanding of the Anzac experience,” she said.
“It’s significant to understand what the sacrifice also meant to people on the other side of the world.
“We tend to focus on the Australian perspective, but the care that is taken by local villagers for example in maintaining the cemeteries and how they remember the event is important.”
