Last week in school, we have been delighted to extend our remembrance of the annual Holocaust Memorial Day by organising a five-day programme of events, to respect the events of the Holocaust. We are proud to be a UCL Beacon School in Holocaust Education, as we strive to enhance the quality of learning and teaching whilst strengthening SMSC provision.
This year, our theme aimed to highlight the ordinary people involved in the events of the Holocaust. This includes those people who allowed genocide to happen, those who actively perpetrated genocide, those who were persecuted and those who achieved extraordinary things, either by helping others to hide or escape, or simply by surviving persecution themselves. Our Theology and Philosophy team, Miss Robinson and Ms Eldridge, believe this focus will prompt the school community to consider how ‘normal’ people, such as ourselves, can perhaps play a bigger part than we might imagine in challenging prejudice today.
Pupils have had the opportunity to engage in many different curriculum events, starting with an informative assembly outlining the chosen theme and highlighting the importance of continued education and awareness of the Holocaust and its legacy. Departments across the school incorporated this message both through lessons, and extracurricular activities, with students in English investigating fiction books that explore children’s experience of Nazi persecution. We also showed two screenings of the film ‘Hotel Rwanda’ (PG) this week, as well as hosting a Reach Lecture; a weekly event hosted by staff aimed to provide insight and perspective into ranging topics and events, entitled ‘Explaining the Holocaust’; inviting all GCSE and A Level students.
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January each year, providing an occasion to remember the millions of innocent people who were killed, and those whose lives were affected, by events during the Second World War under Nazi persecution, and the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The Northampton High School community is proud to remember this world-changing event with its continued annual awareness activities.
