Schools Exhibition Recalls Anne Frank

“A HISTORY for Today”, a pop-up exhibition about the wartime diarist Anne Frank, has opened at Samuel Laycock School, Ashton, as part of Tameside Council’s programme of events to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27).

The launch was attended by the Civic Mayor of Tameside, Cllr Mike Glover, and Cllr Sangita Patel, Tameside Council’s assistant executive member for culture, heritage and digital inclusivity.

Since 2015, Samuel Laycock and the borough’s other five special schools have come together as the Tameside Special Educational Needs Arts Hub – a partnership which the Anne Frank Trust joined last year.

“A History for Today” introduces young people to the history of the Holocaust with a particular focus on the Frank family’s experience of anti-semitism in occupied Amsterdam. By the end of the war only the father, Otto, had survived. Anne, her mother and sister had perished in the Belsen and Auschwitz camps.

Working with the trust has equipped Samuel Laycock pupils with the skills to be guides for the exhibition and able to explain what happened, share information and answer questions relating to different aspects.

Cllr Patel said: “To have Jonathan from the Anne Frank Trust in Tameside, working with our special schools and bringing ‘A History for Today’ has been extremely rewarding. The way he worked with Samuel Laycock students really expanded and enhanced their understanding of such a complex subject.

“At the exhibition’s opening it was clear to see the students had gained so much and for them to have the confidence to guide groups around it was a credit to all involved. It was wonderful to see the pride they had in their work.

Jonathan McKee of the Anne Frank Trust added: “The guides showed great resilience, teamwork and leadership as they shared Anne’s story and spoke out against prejudice and hate with their peers in school.”

A Samuel Laycock School spokesperson commented: “Jonathan showed the students what life was like for Anne and her family during the Holocaust. It was lovely to see the Mayor and Cllr Patel with us and see them view the artwork produced by the students around this year’s National Holocaust Memorial Day theme of ‘Ordinary people’.”

“Every Voice Matters” – a SEN school art collaboration based on Anne Frank – will be unveiled at the Thomas Ashton School, Hyde, on National Holocaust Memorial Day, Friday, January 27.

Pictures: Kyle Drake from Samuel Laycock School’s Digital Pathway.