Northampton High School marks Holocaust Memorial Day with entire week of activities and lessons

A Northampton school marked Holocaust Memorial Day by holding a week-long programme of activities to remember and learn from the cruel events of that time

The Hardingstone-based Northampton High School hosted the programme in their role as a University College London (UCL) Beacon School in Holocaust Education, a dynamic hub of learning and teaching as part of the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education.

This year, the school has extended its remembrance of Holocaust Memorial Day past just one day, by holding a Holocaust Awareness Week.

The day takes place every January 27 and is used for everyone to remember the millions of innocent people who were killed by Nazi persecution, and the genocides which followed.

Throughout the week, the whole school community had the opportunity to engage in many different curriculum events.

Adele O’Doherty, head teacher at Northampton High School, said: "Diversity and inclusion in particular is a very high priority for us as a school. You can see that in our activities and lessons that are part of our strategy to be as inclusive as we possibly can.

"What really stood out for me was that we had a number of students and staff share the personal stories of how the holocaust affected their own families. That really brought it home that there are still people around today who were affected by it and it was very emotional to listen to their stories."

Year 8 history lessons focused on the Jewish experience in Nazi Germany, Year 9 geographers explored how conflict affected children’s human rights, Year 7 pupils enjoyed making Matzos in their food lessons and Year 10 pupils studied Kindertransport – with yet more thought-provoking lessons that took place during the week.

Alongside this, the school’s head of film studies, Leona Heimfeld, spoke to students about her family, including her father, Leizer, who was a survivor of more than one concentration camp, bearing witness to the impact of the genocide on families to this day.

The head teacher added: "We want to make sure that we understand the holocaust and how we can stop ourselves from making the same mistakes in future.

"It starts from the very small, being non-inclusive in less noticeable ways, and then grows from there. So giving students that message to carry with them into the future with them through their lives will be a way to make sure those things don't happen again in future."

Anyone who is interested in the school’s Holocaust Awareness Week can visit their website to find out more.