Holocaust Memorial Week: Monday 23rd-Friday 27th January 2023
Dear Parents/Carers
Hanham Woods Academy is a Beacon School for Holocaust education. This is a scheme, run by University College London, in which we became involved in 2019. Although much of the Beacon School programme is about developing powerful schemes of work relating to the Holocaust (in this Academy, principally in History lessons, but also in Drama), the Beacon School programme has wider-ranging aims as well. These include embedding Holocaust education within the Academy’s ethos and demonstrating the value of teaching and learning about the Holocaust to broader educational values such as SMSC; Global Learning; active, democratic citizenship; and students’ development of independent and critical thinking. Holocaust memorial week is therefore a very important week for the Academy and our students.
This year’s Holocaust Memorial Week assemblies and tutor time activities are being run by a small group of student leaders who have been working every Wednesday, with Miss Dora and the makers of the television documentary ‘The Holocaust, My Family and Me.’ In particular, the students have been researching the Holocaust story of the family of actress, Louisa Clein, who visited the students in the Academy last summer.
Throughout the week students will explore the Genocide Triangle, 10 stages of genocide, life before, during and after the Holocaust, rebel forces, Nazi views, other groups who were persecuted and the impact of the Holocaust and modern-day contributions of genocide.
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place at the end of the week on Friday 27th January, when we will be encouraging students to take a few moments at 4pm to remember those who were murdered for who they were, and to stand against prejudice and hatred today, by lighting a candle at 4pm and safely putting this in your window. At 4.05pm students can share this act with the nation by uploading a photo of their candle on social media, using the hashtags #HolocaustMemorialDay and #LightTheDarkness. Students can also share this with us on our Twitter page @HanhamWoods.
If you have any concerns about the content or would like to find out more, please do not hesitate to contact either me or your child’s Pastoral or Academic Lead.
Finally, if you would like to take part in the Holocaust Memorial Day national online commemoration yourself, please follow this link:
Yours Sincerely
Mrs N Hurrell | Associate Assistant Principal (Personal Development)
