STUDENTS fell silent in tribute to fallen heroes including an ex-pupil killed in the conflict in Afghanistan.

For pupils at Darlington School of Mathematics and Science the centenary remembrance events have had added poignancy as they remember former pupil Private John King who died serving his country.

The academy has the largest number of forces children in the borough and recently created a new garden of remembrance dedicated to the young Darlington soldier.

All year students have been looking at the First World War and considering the plight of the 1.4 million British soldiers killed since 1914.

Assistant headteacher Steve Parr told students: “War is war and it is dreadful – none of us know what it is like unless we have lived through it.

“When the young men, not much older than you here today, marched off to the front in 1914 they did so with romantic notions of cavalry charges and walking in squares.

“But in their naivety they did not realise that they were now living in an industrial age where they would have to face the might of machines. What started as almost a celebration soon turned into a catastrophe.”

Chloe Tinker, 15, shed a tear during the assembly as one member of her family, an ex-pupil, serves in the REME and has been on tours of duty to Afghanistan.

“I always cry because having him in the Army it really hits home as does the story of Pte King,” she said.

Charlotte Martin, 15, also has family serving in the army. “They have served abroad and it is hard to imagine so many soldiers being killed over the years,” she said.