Parent Bulletin: 25.01.2021
25th January 2021
Dear Parents and Carers
School is closed tomorrow, Tuesday 26 January, for our annual staff curriculum development day. Please remind your children that no lessons are set, however, at 9.45am, students in Years 9 -11 are invited to attend a live webcast with a Holocaust survivor to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. Please see further information and login details for the event at the end of the bulletin.
This afternoon’s Historic-All lecture with Professor Edith Hall on Why Homer's Iliad is so popular in the 21st century has been very well attended this afternoon. If you’d like to hear the recording, you can do so via MS Teams: https://bit.ly/38v2S2l
In this lecture Professor Hall has explored why Homer's epic Iliad has become so popular and prominent in different media, from movies to computer games, poetry and novels, in the 21st century, especially amongst women writers. She argued that the historical context of global warfare, the themes of migration and colonisation, the sense of imminent environmental and health catastrophes, and the laments of female survivors of trauma have all made this great epic poem, leading up to the death of Hector and the grief of his womenfolk, feel powerfully topical and relevant.
Thanks to Miss Angell and the History Department for their extraordinary achievement in bringing this series of live lectures from some of History’s big hitters, to Cambourne Village College.
It has seemed lighter this evening - perhaps it’s the snow on the ground - but the days are definitely getting longer. I hope you have a good week’s home learning; we’ll soon be through January!
All good wishes
Claire Coates
Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration: Holocaust Educational Trust Live Webcast, Tuesday 26th January 9.45am-11.30am
All current Year 9 - Year 11 students are invited to attend a live webcast with a Holocaust survivor to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on Tuesday 26th January. This year the event will be held remotely and, where possible, students should be encouraged to listen to the testimony with an appropriate adult nearby. Students should also be encouraged to talk about what they have heard during the webcast with teachers, peers, and family. We suggest that students watch the below two videos to prepare for the webcast:
- Message from Chief Rabbi: https://vimeo.com/502572976
- Preparation video: https://vimeo.com/502152422
To access the event on Tuesday please click here and use the following login details:
Name: Miss Angell
Email: jangell@cambournevc.org
Password: HET2021
Timings:
9.45am: Preparation video to help prepare students to listen to testimony.
10am: Live webcast begins.
11.15am: Short debrief video.
About the event:
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked each year on 27th January – the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. On and around this day, schools, communities and faith groups across the UK join together in national and local events to commemorate those people who became victims of the Nazis and their collaborators and of more recent genocides, and to consider the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the murder of approximately 6 million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War. However, statistics are impersonal and difficult to grasp and we cannot ever expect students to comprehend the magnitude of the Holocaust. One way of ensuring that young people connect with the victims of the Holocaust is by focusing on the experiences of individuals. By providing students with the opportunity to participate in the live survivor webcast, they can put a human face to history and engage with one survivor’s personal experiences during the Holocaust. This year, you are invited to hear the testimony of Eve Kugler BEM. Eve was born in Halle, Germany in 1931. She witnessed the events of Kristallnacht in November 1939, after which her father was sent to Buchenwald. In June 1939, the family fled to Paris on a forged visa. After living in the occupied city, by chance, Eve and one of her sisters were able to find refuge in New York. Eve’s other sister went into hiding and her parents survived the concentration camps.
Contact Miss Angell (Head of History) if you have further questions.
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