UCL Holocaust Beacon School
In 2017, Witton Park Academy became a UCL Beacon School for Holocaust education. Key staff attended a one week course in London to understand the research findings conducted by the Centre for Holocaust education. These findings revealed that many students have an incomplete understanding of the causes, nature and impact of the Holocaust.
Following a four day study visit to Warsaw, a programme of study was devised to fully educate students about the complexity of the Holocaust. How and why did it happen? Who other than Hitler was responsible? What thinking skills do we need to engender to stop events like this happening again?
The Holocaust programme is delivered as part of the Academy’s new resilience curriculum Mpower Me. Feedback from students has shown that they are increasing their substantive knowledge of the Holocaust through investigations which are correcting misconceptions. In addition, pupils are now able to explain the complexity of the issues surrounding this atrocity.