Further to the outstanding work that members of our community are producing inside of the classroom, we’d love to celebrate some incredible opportunities which have taken place outside of the traditional study setting.
Gary Barker of Demeter School reached out to the wider community to educate adults on the Holocaust, whilst also speaking to Ofsted regarding his Beacon School journey.
Elsewhere, Debbie Hayden and the wider team at Trinity Catholic School participated in the #HtFMeUs Schools Conference Day which took place at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, and celebrated being showcased in the prestigious BBC Gardener’s World competition with their wonderful Remembrance Garden.
We are all incredibly proud to champion these opportunities to go above-and-beyond the curriculum.
Ofsted and Outreach
From Gary Barker, History Teacher, Demeter School
Following the podcast featuring Robert Rinder, I engaged in a conversation with a friend regarding Holocaust education. It became apparent that not many individuals from my friend’s generation had been presented with the opportunity to study this important subject. He expressed, “I would love to participate in your lessons.” This sparked my interest, leading me to explore whether others shared similar sentiments, which they did. Consequently, I secured a venue for our sessions. Our first meeting took place on Holocaust Memorial Day, and we have since completed three sessions, with additional sessions planned and more individuals requesting information with the intention of joining.
During this period of time, Demeter had Ofsted in, and during discussions the inspector revealed he had never heard of the BSP before, so I had great pleasure in discussing it with him and the work carried out with the Centre since. The inspector found the context of the Centre’s work fascinating and linked it with the existing SMSC, PSHE and BV programmes we run. He was very complimentary with the entire programme we offer and the CPD carried out.
#HtFMeUs Project Conference Day
From Debbie Hayden, Humanities and Social Sciences Teacher and Beacon School Alumnus (Quality Mark)
The History Research Group were honoured to attend the #HtFMeUs project conference day on the 5th February. This was an extremely immersive day which not only enhanced the students’ understanding and learning but also enabled them to further develop the talents that the project has uncovered. By taking part in the project and the conference days we have discovered that amongst our group we have an extremely talented poet, and an extremely gifted artist. We will be forever grateful to the project for providing our students with the opportunity to discover and develop these talents. Our artist currently has two pieces of work inspired by the project on display in a local gallery.
This year some of the new members of the research group were able to attend the conference for the first time. This was an opportunity for them to not only meet the families but also to learn more about the other families involved in the project. It was heart-warming to see the confidence of the students grow throughout the day.
Comments from the students:
‘I had the opportunity to speak in front of a large group.’
‘It was great. I was able to learn more about the families who were part of the Holocaust and further develop my understanding.’
It was great it helped me to learn more about individual stories of the Holocaust and also use the skills a historian has to when analysing different sources’
BBC Gardener’s World Live ‘Beautiful Borders Competition
From Debbie Hayden, Humanities and Social Sciences Teacher and Beacon School Alumnus (Quality Mark)
During the day we also had the opportunity to share our garden design for BBC Gardener’s World Live ‘Beautiful Borders Competition.’ We are pleased to announce that our design, inspired by the project and the families’ stories has been accepted. Therefore, our garden will be exhibited at the BBC’s Gardener’s World Live event at the NEC from the 12th to the 15th June. You can now find our design on the Gardner’s World website.
