Pupils get feel for trench

Brodie Taylor (in cap) joins other students in the trench at Orewa College. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Students at an Auckland high school had a first-hand look at life in the trenches this week.

The history department at Orewa College marked 100 years since the start of World War I by digging a trench on school fields, with wooden pallets, corrugated iron sheets and barbed wire.

History teacher Kelly Price said teachers felt they needed a dramatic way to get students to appreciate the anniversary.

"A lot of kids tend to come in knowing all about the Nazis and what happened in World War II, but not many of the kids know about the Great War and what happened there," she said.

The trench has proven hugely popular with students - as well as staff, parents and members of the community - heading down to see what things would have been like for soldiers a century ago.

"We had year 13 boys down there [yesterday] and they are all 17 or 18. A few generations ago, they would've been off to war and that's something they thought about."

The school this week also held a ceremony attended by Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating.