We are delighted to announce that Royal Wootton Bassett Academy (RWBA) has successfully secured its second Beacon School Quality Mark, reaffirming the school’s long‑standing national reputation for excellence, innovation and leadership in Holocaust and genocide education.
RWBA first became a Beacon School in 2012–13 and has since been recognised as one of the most influential and enduring contributors to Holocaust education in England. This reaccreditation review found a school where Holocaust teaching is deeply rooted, intellectually ambitious and ethically purposeful, shaped by nearly two decades of pioneering work and a whole‑school commitment to global citizenship, critical thinking and human rights. This review process recognises the school’s sustained commitment to research informed Holocaust education. CPD and quality provision for and experience of Holocaust teaching and learning.
A legacy of leadership, innovation and impact: The review highlighted RWBA’s exceptional heritage in Holocaust and genocide education. The school’s long‑standing Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Programme (HGP), established in 2009, continues to shape curriculum, pedagogy and wider school culture. RWBA’s international teacher conference, ‘Empowering Young People 2 Change the World’, and its innovation enrichment project for schools ‘The Holocaust, Their Family, Me and Us’, continue to reach tens of thousands of students and teachers nationally and internationally – a contribution unmatched in scale and influence – and we are proud as a Centre to support these bold and impactful initiatives. This reaccreditation confirms that RWBA remains a true Beacon School, not only in name but in practice: outward‑facing, research‑informed, and committed to ensuring that Holocaust education enriches disciplinary learning, ethical literacy and civic responsibility.
Curriculum excellence across History and English: The review found high‑quality, conceptually rich Holocaust teaching across the History and English curricula. In History, the Year 9 programme is ambitious, coherent and anchored in powerful enquiry questions that build disciplinary thinking and situate the Holocaust within wider political, social and military contexts. In English, the Anne Frank and Korczak schemes exemplify thoughtful sequencing, multimodal learning, close reading and ethical engagement, enabling students to explore narrative, identity, representation and human experience with depth and sensitivity.
Two observed English lessons, taught by Miss Dean and Mrs Mann, demonstrated pedagogical maturity, strong relationships, expert questioning and secure historical grounding. Students were active meaning‑makers, using disciplinary English skills to interrogate testimony, character, theme and context with nuance and care. These lessons reflected RWBA’s commitment to ambitious, research‑informed teaching that is both intellectually rigorous and emotionally safe.
Leadership, staff and student contributions: The reaccreditation review also recognised the distinctive contributions of the colleagues who sustain and develop RWBA’s Beacon School work. Mr David Storey, Assistant Headteacher and SLT Lead, has provided strategic clarity and whole‑school alignment, ensuring that Holocaust education remains a protected and purposeful part of RWBA’s curriculum identity. Dr Nicola Wetherall MBE, Lead Practitioner, continues to shape national practice through her vision, innovation and deep disciplinary expertise. Mr James Radford, Lead Teacher, has brought logistical support, insight and pedagogical care to curriculum development, teaching and whole‑school commemorative practice.
The review was enriched by thoughtful staff (from English, History, PD, Physical Education, SLT [T&L and CPD lead] and Teaching Assistants) and student panels. Colleagues spoke with and reflective openness, professional honesty and intellectual generosity about their practice, while students demonstrated maturity, empathy and civic literacy – a testament to RWBA’s culture of respect, curiosity and ethical engagement.
Whole‑school culture: testimony, commemoration and disciplinary lenses: RWBA’s whole‑school approach to Holocaust Memorial Day remains a defining strength. This year’s assembly, curated and led by Mr Radford, was repeatedly described by staff and students as powerful, human and deeply resonant. The school’s faculty‑specific HMD slides, created by Dr Wetherall, continue to exemplify disciplinary richness, enabling every subject to offer its own lens on identity, memory, persecution and resilience.
This cross‑curricular coherence ensures that Holocaust education is not confined to a single moment or subject, but woven through RWBA’s curriculum ecosystem in ways that strengthen literacy, oracy, critical thinking and ethical awareness. Personal stories and humanising the history is a key feature of provision and that is innovatively embedded in opportunities within Art and Physical Education. We would especially like to acknowledge the unique contribution, Mr I’Anson has made through PE in recent years, writing about HGP and Beacon School work in an AfPE recent publication. We are sure he will take this commitment into his new inclusion role.
Looking ahead: reflective, ambitious and future‑focused: The review found RWBA to be forward‑looking and reflective, with no sense of complacency. Staff spoke openly about their desire to deepen coherence, strengthen disciplinary challenge and continue developing Holocaust and genocide education as a defining feature of RWBA’s academic and pastoral identity.
Mr David Storey, SLT Lead noted:
‘We are very proud to be awarded the beacon School QM again. It is a testament to the hard work and endeavour of our staff and students. I wish to acknowledge James Radford for his efforts in gaining this accreditation, he has worked tirelessly for this. Nicola Wetherall also deserves so much credit. She has forged this path for many years now and is our own beacon of hope and remembrance for RWBA.’
Headteacher, Mrs Anita Ellis said:
‘We are incredibly proud to have our UCL Quality Mark reaccredited and to continue our long-standing partnership with the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education. This work sits as the heart of our values at RWBA – respect, wellbeing, balance and aspiration, – and everything we do regards community (local, national and international). It helps equip our young people with the empathy, critical literacy and moral courage they need in an increasingly fragmented world. As a school, we remain deeply committed to helping our students become informed, compassionate global citizens who can recognise and challenge hate, keep themselves safe online and contribute positively to society. This recognition honours who we are as a school, our legacy of remembrance and education, but it also strengthens our resolve to keep moving forward.’
Dr Andy Pearce, who led/conducted the review, reflected:
‘Some 13 years ago, I visited Royal Wootton Bassett for the first time. It was a humbling experience. I had heard a great deal about the school; specifically in relation to its teaching and learning about the Holocaust, genocide and human rights. I was aware of RWBA’s reputation for working at the leading edge of Holocaust education in the country. But that knowledge did not prepare me for experiencing this in person for the first time. Almost immediately, the sense of Holocaust education being part of the ‘fabric’ of the school was evident all around me. It was alive in the conversations I had with staff, the lessons I observed, and the students I interacted with.
In the years that followed, I had the privilege of delivering CPD sessions at the school; attending one of the Year 9 Holocaust Days; conducting the reaccreditation review; contributing to the Empowering Young People conference; and, latterly, supporting ‘The Holocaust, Their Family Me and Us project’. In the course of all of these engagements, I learnt as much as I taught – more so, perhaps. And I came to see RWBA as a reservoir of both inspiration and reassurance: reassurance that out in the field, amidst all the pressures and demands, there was a school who were not simply a Beacon School in name, but in nature. A school who were truly and deeply committed to teaching about this terrible history in the best way possible; to helping young people understand it and use that understanding to better make sense of the world; and to pushing the envelope in terms of Holocaust education.
Having taken part in this review process, and examined the evidence available to me, I can say with confidence and pride that the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education can reaccredit the school with its Quality Mark Beacon School status for the period of 2026-2030. RWBA continues to be a school where young people can expect to receive high quality teaching and learning and be supported to meaningfully engage with one of the darkest periods in human history. That is testament to the hard work of its staff and senior leadership.
At the same time as having the pleasure of approving the reaccreditation, I would also like to respectfully offer it a challenge – a challenge which comes from a critical friend of the school. Celebrate this achievement. Then take what is best about what you have done over the past 17 years, forge a new path for the next five years, and become anew one of the leading lights in Holocaust education in this country.’
RWBA now joins the small number of schools nationally to secure a second Quality Mark reaccreditation, reaffirming its position as a leading centre of excellence in Holocaust education and a model for schools across the country.
*The full Royal Wootton Bassett 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. Read more about undertaking the Quality mark process or contact Nic Wetherall to discuss.
