Two teenagers selected for a special visit to World War One battlefields have returned from the emotional experience.

Woodside High School Year Nine students, Renee McMurray and Elizabeth Junaid were selected to take part in the First World War Centenary Battlefields Tour programme to Belguim and France.

The government funded programme has been established to commemorate the centenary of the war by taking two students from every secondary school in England to visit the battlefields on the Western Front.

Elizabeth and Renee visited the war grave sites of Tyne Cot Cemetery and the scene of the Battle of the Somme.

Deputy head teacher Gerry Robinson said the visit had an enormous impact, and that the girls came back to London with a greater understanding of the importance of remembering the fallen heroes.

He said: “Some of the graves that the students visited were for teenagers not much older than themselves.

“The girls even found the grave of soldier William John Fuller, who was originally from Lordship Lane, Wood Green.

“The impact of the Battlefields Tour was immeasurable. The students developed a far better understanding of what happened during World War One and the impact that it had on people’s lives.

“They realised the importance of remembering what happened one hundred years ago and the value of educating everyone in our community about the horrific impact of war.”