BOYS and staff at Christ Church Cathedral School attended a special assembly yesterday to mark 100 years since the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The Cathedral Choristers, Worcester Choristers and Senior Choir sang together, and Year 8 Cathedral Choristers George Nicholls and Nicholas Platt sang Is my team ploughing? by George Butterworth, a music teacher from Radley College who was killed at the Somme.

Introducing the service at Christ Church Cathedral Dr Robin Harskin, deputy head (academic) at CCCS, who is taking 38 pupils to visit the Somme battlefields later this month, said: "Today we are reflecting on the past, and trying to learn the lessons, so we do everything we can to prevent war and to live in peace and friendship with all the nations of this beautiful and fragile earth.

"So by commemorating, we are remembering, we are paying our respects, we are giving thanks, and we are hoping to learn."

Headmaster Richard Murray added: "Despite its great importance, the first day of the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago today can seem very remote to our children, brought up as they are in a country of affluence and peace.

"It is one of the most important tasks of education to enable young people to understand what happened in the past.

"We decided therefore to engage our pupils in a way which would make a lasting impression on them."

Nicholas Platt, 13, from Oxford, a Christ Church Cathedral Chorister, said: "Music is incredibly good for describing people's emotions.

"Even though George Butterworth died 100 years ago on the Somme we can listen to his music today."

Fellow Cathedral Chorister Isaac Payne, 11, from Oxford, added: "The service really made me think.

"The music made me think about the men dying and how they didn't know they were going to die."

William Wark, 11, from Oxford, said: "Today we learnt about how young men in the First World War would lie about their age so they could join up - they thought they were going to come home as heroes."

Back at school, the boys spent the rest of the day learning about the Somme through sessions of art, poetry, and history, and their lunch came in the form of a Red Cross Parcel, containing meat including spam, chocolate and evaporated milk.

Sophie Biddell, director of music at the prep school for boys, said: "The whole school community felt it was important to remember the tragedy of July 1, 1916.

"I have been tremendously impressed by the boys’ sensitivity in dealing with this difficult subject."