The Anne Frank Trust UK provide a programme that helps us all learn from Anne Frank and the Holocaust, to empower young people to challenge all forms of prejudice. At Abbey Grange, we have several students who completed the Anne Frank Project in school, and then went on to apply for their Alumni programme and were successful in their application. These students are now part of a national programme which involves mentoring fellow students – helping them develop local projects to counter discrimination and to raise the profile of the message of inclusion and tolerance.
Anne Frank Ambassadors also get the opportunity to apply for national projects and several of our Key Stage 4 students have participated in national and European projects. Two students from Year 11 went to Krakow in the summer holidays and were part of a educational film that documented their journey, including their visit to Auschwitz, and have now been asked to go to the national launch of the film in London in January.
Josh in Year 10 visited the Windermere project in the summer holidays and, as well as lots of fun activities, learned the story of the refugee children who went there for safety. The poem he wrote in response to this experience was shared with students and others at another school to great acclaim and he has also now been asked to join the group going to London in January. Josh says “It was an amazing experience to meet Holocaust survivor Arek Hersch and to hear what he went through at my age. I also liked making new friends and we still message each other nearly every day.”
Josh was also successful in gaining a place on a trip to visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam during half term so has had the great privilege of seeing the house first hand.
This week, the Ambassadors at our school gathered to share their learning and inspire our new ambassadors. Our Year 9 students are busy planning projects to take into primary schools, using Anne’s story to introduce ideas around discrimination and a separate project looking at discrimination around gender and identity. We are excited to see where their journey with Anne Frank takes them.
If you’re a student at Abbey Grange and would like to find out more about this project, please contact our Chaplain, Mrs Brown.
