On the 26th July 2016 a group of 39 pupils and 7 staff were privileged to be invited (as one of only 2 schools) to attend and take part in a service of thanksgiving and re-commitment to mark the 20th anniversary of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum.
The children made the following pledge along with the rest of the congregation: 'We pledge ourselves to promote peace in all the world, to live in generous love for all humanity, and to strive for the welfare and the unity of the nations.' Pupils took turns to collect a rose from one of the Holocaust survivors attending the event.
In his sermon during the service, The Very Revd John Hall, the Dean of Westminster said 'We all need to play a part to enrich one another in peace and unity'. Prayers were led by Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich from the Nottingham Liberal Synagogue, Imam Asif Ali Al-Azhari the Director of Education at the Karimia Institute, Nottingham, Dr James Smiths CBE- Co-Founder of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum and The Reverend Professor Vernon White- Canon in Residence.
Photo credit: Andrew Dunsmore/Westminster Abbey
Photo credit: Andrew Dunsmore/Westminster Abbey
We are very proud to be one of only 10 partner schools of the National Holocaust Centre and to have developed strong links with them to deepen pupil's understanding of the Holocaust.
All Webster staff took part in a training and development day at the centre in September 2014 and again in 2018 with the goal of incorporating themes from the Holocaust throughout our curriculum from Nursery to Year 6. Examples of these themes being identity, difference, tolerance and respect.
The day ran as follows:
'The Journey is the first exhibition to be built in the UK, solely for the teaching of the Holocaust to primary-aged children. The Journey tells the story of Leo, a fictional German-Jewish boy living in Berlin during Nazi rule. His story unfolds in a series of rooms, which not only detail Leo’s experience but also that of children who lived during the Holocaust and survived. Their stories are at the heart of the permanent exhibition.'
National Holocaust Centre Website
The Museum has a small but internationally significant collection which has been donated by survivors, their families and people with a personal connection to the Holocaust. The collections focus mainly on objects, books, photographs, documents, ephemera, oral and video testimony relating to the Holocaust. There is a strong emphasis in our collections to telling the stories of people who were affected by the Holocaust and for their experiences to not be lost within statistics.
National Holocaust Centre Website
Below are some photos taken on our staff development day:
For more information about the National Holocaust Centre click the link: https://www.holocaust.org.uk/
For more information on the Horrors of War project click the link: #Horrorsofwar
Two of our Year 6 pupils won the National Holocaust Centre's national art competition in July 2015!
Holocaust Presentation
Scroll down through the presentation to find out more about how we developed our whole school approach to Holocaust learning.
Our RE & RHE curriculum: