Beacon School for Holocaust Education

Sandhurst School holds Beacon Status in Holocaust education. Beacon status :

• Is designated by the Institute of Education at the University of London
• Is recognition of excellence in Holocaust education
• Is a platform for development
• Involves the requirement to share good practice with other schools

As a Beacon School we place great importance on the teaching of the history of the Holocaust and exploring the lessons we might learn from the Holocaust today. In addition to the taught curriculum we annually mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Every year students have the privilege of meeting a Holocaust survivor and of hearing their testimony. Students in Year 11 also have the chance to participate on a three-day visit to Holocaust-related sites in Poland, including the notorious extermination camp Auschwitz Birkenau.

But why is it important for the next generation to learn of these things and never to forget? In our view it is precisely because they ARE the next generation and the future of humanity is in their hands. As Santayana once wrote:

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it