A school held a special ceremony to mark the anniversary of the start of the First World War.

The event was held in the grounds of Holy Trinity School, Crawley, and was attended by pupils, staff and representatives from the British Legion and the Royal Naval Association.

A memorial called the Silent Picket was created, featuring a clay model of a red poppy with two soldiers facing each other.

It is based in a flower bed surrounded by sandbags, a fence post with barbed wire and two shrapnel shells to recreate a piece of No Man's Land. Poppy seeds have also been planted in the bed.

School premises manager Bob Elkington said the aim was to keep the memorial in place right through to 2019 to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles – when the war came to a formal end.

He said: “Most people say it went from 1914 to 1918, but that was when the ceasefire was announced. The official end came with the signing of the treaty.”

The memorial will act as a place of reflection for students and staff and will be used in future Remembrance services.