Two special Acts of Worship were held, one by a member of staff who had been to Auschwitz and another during which students heard about survivors’ stories and watched a short film about tolerance.
Year 8 students created a display from a suitcase, shoes, glasses and victims’ names written on pieces of paper.
On Holocaust Memorial Day the whole school observed a two minute silence while staff members held up pictures of Holocaust victims. There was also time set aside for prayer and reflection during the week leading up to Holocaust Memorial Day.
Peter McNally, Assistant Headteacher at Saint John Houghton, in Kirk Hallam, promoted tolerance amongst students during an Act of Worship.
He said: “Holocaust survivors were treated with hostility. They went back to their homes which had been occupied by other people and they were treated with resentment. There were outbreaks of anti-Jewish feeling all over Europe and few survivors received medical care and they didn’t really have any kind of support.
“The Nazi war lords were put on trial at the end of the war and they didn’t get testimonies from survivors; it took decades for them to be listened to.
“There’s genocide going on in Darfur in Sudan right now where many people are going through unimaginable suffering. We have to create a better community where we tolerate each other’s differences, respect them and each other.”
Student Marie Estanda, 13, said: “The victims and survivors had everything taken away from them. Hearing what people went through during the Holocaust makes me very grateful for my life; I am very lucky.”
Student Alfie Stringfellow, 13, said: “I did know about the Holocaust but not some of the things like how the people had their hair cut off. It’s an uneasy subject to talk about but it’s important.”