Greenfield Community College students have been remembering the Holocaust and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur. The students commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day through a series of assemblies and were encouraged to take their own steps, using social media, reading books, writing poems and more to ensure genocide is never forgotten and to help prevent it in the future. In addition each house group at Greenfield took a collective step by lighting a candle for each house shade in the assemblies.
Last week a group of year 8 students went to Durham Cathedral to study journeys of the Holocaust accompanied by their teachers Miss Newton and Mr Johnson where they participated in workshops about prejudice and discrimination and listened to Holocaust survivor, Ruth Barnett.
During the morning, students took part in activities which highlighted the dangers of prejudice and discrimination as well as considering the lessons we can learn from the Holocaust. In the afternoon, Ruth spoke about her experience of the Holocaust and the impact it has had on her life.
The students commented on the experience that they were very saddened to learn the true extent of the horrors of the Holocaust. One student reflected ‘how the genocide affected different people in different ways’ and were ‘extremely shocked to find out Roma Gypsies were brutally murdered as well.’ Students asked very pertinent questions and gained a huge amount from a very thought provoking and moving day.
Christine Stonehouse, Deputy Head Teacher at Greenfield said: “At Greenfield we believe it is very important to commemorate this event and to encourage all young people to appreciate the role of each generation in preventing hatred and discrimination. Students at Greenfield have shown great empathy and understanding of the horrors of genocide.”
