The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education is delighted to announce that Healing Academy has successfully secured the Beacon School Quality Mark, recognising the school’s exceptional commitment to high‑quality, research‑informed Holocaust education.
Healing Academy joined the Beacon School programme in 2024–25 and, in a short space of time, has established Holocaust education as a distinctive, values‑led strand of its curriculum and wider school culture. The reaccreditation review found a school where Holocaust teaching is coherent, ambitious and deeply human, shaped by disciplinary rigour, thoughtful pedagogy and a whole‑school ethos grounded in kindness, integrity and global citizenship.
A whole‑school commitment to meaningful Holocaust education
The review highlighted Healing’s cross‑curricular strength, with History, Religious Education, English, Geography and LIFE lessons each contributing their own disciplinary lens. Students encounter Jewish life and identity before persecution; analyse evidence and interpretation like historians; explore representation and memory through literature; and connect historical learning to contemporary questions of rights, prejudice and misinformation.
Holocaust education at Healing is not confined to a single unit or commemorative moment. It is carefully sequenced across Years 7–11, enriched through assemblies, LIFE lessons, enrichment activities and the school’s wider pastoral culture. This coherence ensures that every student, regardless of pathway, encounters challenging, thoughtful and meaningful learning.
Pedagogy rooted in care, curiosity and intellectual ambition
Classroom observations revealed teaching that combined disciplinary challenge with emotional care. Teachers model historical thinking, create dialogic classrooms, and support students to engage with complexity safely and confidently. Students demonstrated maturity, empathy and civic literacy, speaking with clarity about testimony, responsibility, identity and the human consequences of persecution.
Leadership, staff and student contributions
The reaccreditation review also highlighted the distinctive contributions of the colleagues who have shaped Healing’s Beacon School journey. Lead Teacher, Mrs Inga Greet, has brought intellectual ambition, humility and deep disciplinary care to the development of Holocaust education, ensuring that curriculum design and classroom practice remain both rigorous and human. SLT Lead, Mrs Rhya Houghton, has provided strategic clarity and whole‑school alignment, ensuring that Holocaust education sits securely within Healing’s values‑led culture. Principal, Mr Stephen Logan, has been instrumental in creating the conditions for this work to flourish – his outward‑facing leadership, commitment to global citizenship and belief in ambitious, inclusive education have given Holocaust teaching both momentum and meaning.
The review also benefited enormously from Healing’s staff and student panels: colleagues spoke with insight and authenticity about their practice, while students demonstrated maturity, empathy and civic literacy that reflect the very best of Healing’s ethos, and it was revealing to hear such pride in the learning and experiences they have, such as forming a local connection to Ian Judson, whose Auntie Ada, a British hero of the Holocaust is now providing innovative and engaging opportunities, along with #HtFMeUs participation. Outcomes like the ‘One Million’ poem (a truly collective endeavour and read publicly by Robert Rinder MBE) speaks volumes about the quality provision for and experience of Holocaust teaching and learning at Healing.
Teaching and learning: excellence in the classroom
The two observed lessons offered compelling evidence of the quality of teaching and learning at Healing. In History, Mr Colley guided Year 8 students through complex questions of evidence, interpretation and historical method, modelling disciplinary thinking with clarity and care. In a second lesson, Mr Clayton supported students to engage with testimony, perpetrator documents and historians’ interpretations, enabling them to explore escalation, responsibility and human experience with maturity and respect. Both lessons exemplified Healing’s commitment to ambitious, research‑informed pedagogy: classrooms where students think deeply, question confidently and engage with challenging material in ways that are safe, purposeful and intellectually rich.
Looking ahead: ambitious, humble and future‑focused
The review found Healing Academy to be forward‑looking and reflective, with no sense of complacency. Staff spoke openly about their desire to deepen disciplinary challenge, strengthen cross‑curricular coherence and continue developing Holocaust and genocide education as a defining feature of the school’s academic and pastoral identity.
Lead Teacher, Mrs Greet reflected:
‘When I started the journey of leading the Beacon School project at Healing, I just knew that I wanted to see the Holocaust taught well. I thought I would be working with our curriculum and fine tuning it. What I didn’t realise was how much the project would change and develop myself, my colleagues, the students and the school. As an individual I have found a passion for telling the stories of people who were affected by the Holocaust and looking at what we can learn from them today. In a world that can be so judgemental, it is so important that we know the people who are here.
I am delighted that the students have truly embraced a challenging topic and recognised that it isn’t just learning facts about what happened. They have reflected on what it means to be human in a world that tells you that you are not and how people react when their community turns upon them and tries to take their hope. As their empathy and understanding have developed, the students in the school have made the connection between the importance of learning what happened in the past and what we choose to do now.
As a whole staff body, we have seen the importance of learning about the Holocaust as a community and not confining it to a unit in History. Whether we have taken part in whole school opportunities to reflect on Holocaust Memorial Day and received thank you notes from neighbours or recognised the way themes such as identity, prejudice and faith are connected to so many of our subjects and the topics we have covered – we have all realised what a great opportunity we have to help the next generation be able to say ‘Never again’ with regards to genocide.
I am so proud of what the school has achieved in the last two years. If you asked me where we would be when we started the journey, I couldn’t have imagined all the opportunities and developments we have made. Whilst I have had the honour of being the Lead Teacher through this process, it truly has been a whole school effort as we have embraced the opportunities to learn and grow as a community that have come along the way.’
Mrs Houghton, the SLT Lead remarked:
‘Earning the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education Quality Mark has been an incredible journey of reflection, collaboration, and immense pride. Working alongside Mrs. Greet and colleagues across History, English, RE, Geography and Pastoral Leads this has shown that Holocaust education at Healing Academy isn’t just one lesson or subject, it’s a shared responsibility built into our culture. Together, we are helping our students connect the past to the present, developing informed, reflective, and responsible students for the wider Healing community.’
Principal, Mr Logan said:
“Achieving the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education Beacon School Quality Mark is a deeply proud milestone for everyone at Healing Academy. Our moral imperative is to ensure that our pupils do not just acquire knowledge, but develop the empathy, critical thinking and moral courage to challenge prejudice in all its forms. This prestigious accreditation is a testament to the dedication of our staff, the outstanding maturity of our young people, and the invaluable support of our partners. Through this work, we continue to ensure our core value of community is a shared responsibility to look out for one another and stand together. We are deeply grateful to the team at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, whose world-class guidance and expertise have empowered us to make this vital historical learning visible, meaningful, and deeply impactful.
The Centre’s Nic Wetherall MBE, who led the review said:
“Walking alongside Healing Academy through their Quality Mark journey has been a genuinely uplifting professional experience. What stands out most is that Holocaust education here is not an isolated project or a curriculum addition; it is woven into the culture, values and identity of the school. The commitment of leaders, staff and students is rooted in a shared belief that education should develop thoughtful, compassionate and critically engaged young people. It is clear to me from this review process that Healing’s UCL Beacon School work, through quality provision for and experience of Holocaust teaching and learning, equips students not only with historical understanding, but with the empathy, critical literacy and moral courage needed to navigate the challenges of the contemporary world. The Quality Mark is a fitting recognition of what has been achieved to date, but it is also a milestone in an ongoing journey. Healing is building strong foundations, and I have every confidence that the school will continue to learn, share, collaborate and extend its impact as a Beacon School, benefiting its students, its community and the wider educational landscape. Thankyou for all you do, and especially those involved in a memorable, personally and professionally enriching, two review days.
Healing Academy now joins the growing network of Beacon Schools whose work demonstrates how high‑quality Holocaust education can enrich curriculum ambition, strengthen critical thinking, and support students to become thoughtful, responsible and compassionate citizens.
* The full Healing Academy 2026 report, featuring extensive details of their strengths and identification of suggested developmental action points, will be available soon.
The UCL Quality Mark scheme is a great way to celebrate and share best practice and is both developmental and forward looking. Beacon School alumni considering undertaking the Quality mark process should contact n.wetherall@ucl.ac.uk or read more https://holocausteducation.org.uk/beacon-school-quality-mark/
