St Edward’s School welcomed Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan on Friday 23rd January as part of the school’s ongoing commitment to social awareness, compassion, and community engagement. The invitation was extended by the St Edward’s Standing With Others Project, a student-led initiative dedicated to raising awareness about genocide and promoting understanding across the school community and beyond.
Mr Duncan-Jordan met with headteacher Mr Chris Barnett and the students involved in the project, learning about their work to highlight themes of justice and empathy, and to raise awareness of genocide. The students marked Genocide Awareness Day in December by creating and sharing a podcast with all tutor groups explaining the steps to genocide and highlighting the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. They are currently in the process of fundraising for a project in the Central African Republic which provides employment for young men at risk of recruitment to local militia.
Mr Duncan-Jordan’s visit comes in the lead-up to Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January, a day of national commemoration for the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust, and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution. In addition to speaking at the Holocaust Memorial Commemoration at Poole Lighthouse on 26th January, the Standing With Others students will be leading assemblies across next week to offer opportunities for students to consider how we can all make our society a better place today, free from hatred, prejudice and discrimination.
Mr Duncan-Jordan said during his visit, “It was a real pleasure to meet the students at St Edward’s who have been working so hard on their Standing With Others project. To hear them talk so passionately about the need to combat genocide worldwide was truly inspirational. The world would be a better place if these students were in charge!”
Following the discussion with students, Mr Duncan-Jordan was given a tour of the school, where he met additional staff and gained insight into the wider ethos and daily life of St Edward’s. The visit highlighted the school’s dedication to nurturing informed, socially conscious young people who are equipped to engage with complex issues in a meaningful way.
Mr Barnett expressed his appreciation for the MP’s visit, noting the significance of the timing. “Holocaust Memorial Day invites us to remember, to reflect, and to recommit ourselves to building a kinder world. Our students take that responsibility seriously, and it was a privilege to share their work with Mr Duncan-Jordan.”
St Edward’s School remains deeply proud of the Standing With Others Project and the students who lead it, and looks forward to continuing its mission of fostering understanding, respect, and unity within the school and the wider community.
The theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day is Bridging Generations, and the Standing With Others pupils led the day's commemoration and candle-lighting, and will lead collective worship across the week. This theme invites reflection on how memory is passed on when living witnesses are no longer with us and the Standing With Others group are asking the student body to carry that memory forward with care, responsibility, and critical insight. Today they shared the story of Janusz Korczak and the Chlodna Bridge in the Warsaw ghetto (courtesy of the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education). The commemoration included a moving poem written by one of our international students, Dallas Brasil (slide 14). In addition to this, pupils have been commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day in the following ways:
Members of the Standing With Others group attended the annual commemoration at Poole Lighthouse on 25th January, where Maisie Kiff spoke eloquently about her experience on the Letters from Auschwitz initiative, and Andreea Clopotel made a pledge of commitment to carry forward the memory of the Holocaust whilst candles were lit for the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and other victims of Nazi persecution.
On Monday 26th January, Year 9 Art ambassadors attended the annual schools' commemoration at Parkstone Grammar where they heard about the artist Yehuda Bacon, who at the age of 13 was deported with his family from Ostrava to Theresienstadt, and a year later was sent to Auschwitz. He survived and was liberated in May 1945. His artwork served as evidence in trials against Nazi criminals (including the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem and the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials) and were used in the litigation against Holocaust denier David Irving, who challenges the existence of gas chambers in Auschwitz. Yehuda is now in his nineties and lives in Tel Aviv. His story was told by his daughter Hana.
On Wednesday 28th January, Year 9 and 10 students will attend the launch of the Dora Love Prize at Bournemouth University where they will learn about the life of Dora, a Holocaust survivor, who established an initiative between schools and universities that fosters diversity, equality, and inclusion inspired by the commemoration of the Holocaust and the need to address contemporary issues. Students will then return to school and with the support of Mrs Biggs and Mr Stockley, they will prepare and submit a project inspired by the Holocaust’s lessons but extending to broader issues of intolerance and discrimination.