About #HtFMeUs

Conceived as an immersive, enrichment project – perhaps an after-school club, but also suitable to include within the curriculum – #HtFMeUs supports and guides students to explore one of the stories from the documentary: hearing directly from the families featured and using the documentary, its experts and filmmaking team, archive material and more, to understand the story. Stories – we know – have the power to change the way we think, feel and act. Each story, provides a learning hook, making humanising the history possible. Students begin the project by following either Bernie Graham, Noemie Lopian, Robert and his mother Angela Cohen, or sisters Louisa and Natalie Clein’s journey. In doing so they deepen their knowledge of the Holocaust and its history, develop critical thinking skills and are then invited to reflect upon the meaning of these events for them as individuals 

[1] As of September 2022, Royal Wootton Bassett Academy Trust will be known as ‘The Ascend Learning Trust’

Participating schools bring together these threads in a reflection on how the story informs the school community, its diversity, ethos, and values. Beyond the workbook resources and challenges, projects outcomes are varied: including cross-curricular opportunities in History, RE, Art, social science, MFL, Music, Drama and more. Taking up the project students learn about ‘the Holocaust’, explore one family story (their family), reflect on what it means to them (me) and as a school community (us). Presented with often little known, often under-taught, aspects of the Holocaust (the Einsatzgruppen ‘Holocaust by Bullets’, hidden children, resistance and role of women, life under Vichy, occupation and more) students have been able to identify and challenge prevailing misconceptions about what it means to be Jewish in Britain today, go beyond the Auschwitz centric narrative. Students are supported to discover the complexity and evolution of the camp system, to realise the importance of place, space, identity, culture and belonging – and to heed lessons.

Knowing what happened in the Holocaust, learning about it, means nothing if we are complacent. We know the warning signs. We know where appeasement, being a bystander or ‘them and us’ thinking leads – this project is research-informed, in pedagogical approach and content, aligned to IHRA guidance and best practice and engages all participants, schools and communities to reflect upon and apply their deep learning.

In an era where survivor visits are increasingly difficult for schools to arrange and where we approach a point in time where Holocaust survivors will all have passed away, this project demonstrates an approach for students to follow a Holocaust story closely and develop a deep understanding of the history, making use of archive material, documentary evidence and the reflections of second- and third- generation descendants of Holocaust victims and survivors: it humanises the history. Additionally, the project gives young people an opportunity to reflect on the legacies of the Holocaust and their significance in the modern world, and to develop a sense of themselves as global citizens in the context of this history. 

The project would be very suited to schools wishing to develop their students’ cultural capital and build a strong culture of valuing diversity and British Values and would be valuable in ensuring a broad and balanced curricular offer in PSHE or Citizenship lessons: it supports SMSC, personal development, student voice, leadership, and teamwork. It addresses themes related to prejudice, discrimination, safeguarding, antisemitism, DEI, emotional and media literacy, e-safety and recognising myths, misconceptions. In era of fake news, conspiracy theories, and distortion-it supports combatting denial and challenges hatred. It empowers young people to safeguard the future by learning from the past: an innovative vehicle to support existing Holocaust provision across the curriculum and can support schools marking Holocaust Memorial Day, or opportunity to embed a culture of respect, empathy, and inclusion. 

The project provides co-ordinating teachers the foundational resources, materials and support they need to embark on the project. With input from experts at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education and the 45 Aid Society, facilitated over Zoom, and direct communication with those whose families featured in the documentary (Bernie, Noemie, Robert, Angela, Louisa and Natalie) student groups get to take a learning and reflective ‘journey’. In addition, some school visits and special events occur across the evolving project; just recently, two schools were invited to University College London campus to experience a series of workshops delivered by UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, with Robert and Angela visiting as a ‘surprise’, ensuring a first-hand connection with the stories studied was forged, along with working directly with experts in the field of Holocaust education at one of Britain’s leading universities! Schools and learners continue to benefit from varied experiences as part of project 

This has taken shape over time and carefully combines curriculum provision and practice, pastoral and enrichment opportunities and community elements to form a Holocaust, genocide and human rights programme (HGP). With Nic conceiving of this innovative and impactful approach – now so embedded within the schools’ culture and values – Nic’s vision, tenacity and knowledge as ‘Lead Practitioner’, has ensured the HGP has garnered local, regional, national and international recognition for its innovative, civic, and forward-thinking, outward facing approach.

In 2012 Nic accepted the invitation to become a Lead Teacher, as the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education approached a dozen schools nationally to pilot its Beacon School programme. Since 2017, the school has held the prestigious UCL Beacon School Quality Mark status and Nic took up a part-time collaborative position with the Centre to support its school’s partnership, profile building, research and CPD programmes: combining the best of her continued school-based experiences with the world leading education institute and its specialist team. The RWBA and Trust wide partnership with UCL remains significant, mutually beneficial and of considerable importance: as Nic and colleagues innovate and develop new projects and opportunities – like #HtFMeUs - there are opportunities and insights UCL contribute that continue to deepen and enrich the experience for students and teachers alike.

With the support of the Pears Foundation, Nic’s role at RWBA has continued to flourish and evolve – now with responsibility across the Ascend Learning Trust to develop and enhance provision for and experience of HGP teaching and learning – and continues to create, design and roll out a range of projects, curricula, events and experiences, always, supported by CPD opportunities for staff, to RWBA, Trust and wider school partners. #HtFMeUs is the latest such project, conceived, lead and developed by Nic. It’s reach and impact to date, speaks volumes as to the wealth of her experience, her specialism and contribution to field of Holocaust education. That #HtFMeUs families, experts and filmmakers have supported the project in the manner they have reflects the regard and trust with which Nic is held. 

Nic was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours 2017, recognising her services to Holocaust Education, Genocide Prevention and Human Rights Awareness. As she regularly says – ‘…there is much we have achieved and can be proud of, but there is so very much more still to do’.

Nic’s work continues… in part through #HtFMeUs and in so doing she strives to inform, engage, inspire and empower young people to change the world. She is steadfast in her commitment to personalising the history through story: stories have the power to change the way we think, feel and act, and it is vital young people are empowered to safeguard their futures, in all manner of ways, including Holocaust, genocide and human rights educational opportunities, by engaging and reflecting in the past. That so many schools continue to participate in this project, reveals its relevance, its innovation and its potential scale and reach, as inspired by one family’s journey, each school immerses itself within the story and in so doing makes the project their own. Seeing and hearing how young people respond and engage, is what drives Nic each day and what most excites her about the project… she can’t wait to see what emerges and how the project evolves in the weeks, months and years ahead.