Five history students from St John’s Catholic Comprehensive School are in London this evening to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

The Gravesend youngsters and teacher Colm Murphy are attending the national service at Westminster Abbey alongside Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.

Mr Murphy said: “This is an extraordinary event to be a part of; the students are as excited as they are aware of the privilege they have been afforded.

“To be part of on an occasion such as this makes those present all the more appreciative of the lives lost and the lives broken as a consequence of war, and in particular the Battle of the Somme.

“It may be some years in the past but the battle remains a singularly important event of our contemporary age.”

St John’s is one of 16 schools from across the country invited to take part in the service, which forms part of the history society’s extensive First World War project.

Pupils are aiming to document the lives of all of Gravesend’s fallen veterans and on Saturday staff and sixth formers will set off from the Windmill Hill Memorial for a charity cycle to Ypres, Belgium.