When the sun rose this Anzac Day and shone on the graves of the 779 Australian soldiers buried at Villers-Bretonneux, seven Year 12 students and four teachers from Tumut High School were there to pay their respects.

The following day they attended a ceremony at the Australian National Memorial, laying poppies by the names of eight fallen soldiers from Tumut whose lives they had researched in preparation for the trip.

The service marked the 90th anniversary of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux and formed part of a once-in-a-lifetime excursion for the rural students.

The 19-day European Cultural Experience took the group from the ancient ruins of Pompeii, to the top of the London Eye.

Supervising teacher James Hayes said in planning the trip, the students’ individual paths of study had been closely considered.

“When we went to Pompeii we had two ancient history students who led the rest of us around the ruins – they were our tour guides. They’d done all the research before they left,” Mr Hayes said.

The busy itinerary included a cooking school in Tuscany, historical sites and museums in Rome; the Louvre, Montmartre, Notre Dame and the Musee d’Orsay in Paris; Florence’s Duomo and Galleria dell’ Accademia; and many of the cultural attractions of Pisa, Milan, Venice and London.

HSIE teacher Jo-Ann Stroud, who also went on the trip, said the students had been inspired by visiting the places they had studied and had taken photos for their research and assessment tasks.

“We have a visual art student who started his major work over there, doing sketches for his process diary,” she said.

Back in Tumut, the school community was able to track the journey and contact the group through a dedicated blog.

The local radio station also played daily phone interviews with the students and teachers. Mrs Stroud said the highlight of the trip was the time spent in Villers-Bretonneux, where the phrase “N’oublions jamais l’Australie” (Never forget Australia) appears above every blackboard in the local school.

“Being billeted with local families was wonderful. Our students and the [French] families cried when we said goodbye.”