The Fed Guardianship Programme
It was my pleasure to welcome back guests from the Jewish Fed and also Anne Super, Gisela Feldman and Marianne Phillips on 18th July. Anne, Marianne and Gisela are all Holocaust survivors that have been working closely with the History Department this year. We were approached by Danielle Jeffries from the Fed in November 2022 and offered the chance for our pupils to become part of the Fed’s Guardianship programme and we jumped at the opportunity!
The History Department are firm believers in teaching the Holocaust through human experience; to truly understand the impact it created. We have redeveloped our teaching of the Holocaust to use Ike Alterman’s story and many of you will know that we renamed a building at School in Ike’s honour in April. However, we were really keen for our pupils to learn more from a wide range of stories and broaden their understanding of how survival took many different forms. 12 Year 12 pupils were selected to become our maiden cohort of Guardians and have spent the last 6 months studying the stories of Anne, Marianne and Gisela. All 3 women have remarkable stories of survival: Anne was a hidden child, Marianne made it to Britain on the Kindertransport and Gisela arrived here via Cuba on the St Louis. Our pupils have learned with and from these survivors, with the intention being to continue sharing these stories in the future. The Year 12s organised some really interesting presentations and did all three survivors proud with how they explained their hardships and experiences.
They finished this year off by presenting what they’d learned to all of our Year 9 classes. Through the Guardianship project, we’ve helped to share these wonderful stories to ensure that they will never be forgotten. On Tuesday, we held an afternoon tea to celebrate everything we’ve achieved together this year. This really was a lovely end to months of hard work and preparation. We hope this is just the start and that we continue this every year! I’d like to thank the Fed for their support, Gisela, Marianne and Anne for their stories and our Guardians for doing such a great job sharing what they’ve learned.
Mr Gerschler
