Voices of Equality - by Year 5

Our Year 5 pupils took part in a two-day workshop delivered by Bethany Trober from the Anne Frank Trust. The Anne Frank Trust is an anti-prejudice charity, deeply committed to equality and diversity.

Over the two days we learnt about the life and experiences of Anne Frank - a German-born Jewish girl who kept a diary in which she documented life in hiding under Nazi persecution. She is a celebrated diarist who described everyday life from her family hiding place in an Amsterdam attic.

By exploring the anti-semitism that Anne encountered, we then learnt about other types of prejudice in society today. The themes discussed were homophobia, racism, ableism, stereotyping, prejudice, equality and discrimination.  

PUPIL PARLIAMENT

As class representatives from our Pupil Parliament we were able to explain our ideas about the issues and how we are able to meet with other representatives and teachers to make Whitings Hill an inclusive and welcoming school.

LEARNING ABOUT ANNE FRANK

Working in pairs we had to read the fact cards about Anne Frank and then put them into order. Some of us had blue cards – others had red cards. Our next task was to teach each other the information. We learnt about how groups of people can blame minority groups for what is happening in a country instead of trying to work together to solve the situation. We learnt that anti-semitism still happens today. As a class we spoke about how we can work together to make all groups of people feel welcome and safe and it should not matter about race, religion, gender, sexuality or abilities.

OUR PRESENTATIONS

We decided who we were going to work with and what our theme would be – we could do any of the topics we had covered on the first day. Some groups chose a history of Anne Frank; some groups explored equality and diversity; some groups worked on anti-discrimination in its many forms; others worked on specific groups and how to make everyone a part of society.

QUOTES

Focus on the positive instead of the negative - Charlotte

Focus on what you can achieve, not what you can’t do - Siyaan

You should be proud of who you are – no matter your sexuality. Naisha/Tabitha/Claudia/Rowan/Layla

Do not bully people who are different – respect them for who they are – Sidney

ANNE FRANK

We enjoyed learning about Anne Frank and making the posters about what we learned. She and her family were very brave. It is sad and wrong that they were treated differently because they were Jewish. Bella/Fatima/Jasmine

Anne lived a terrible life, let’s hope we won’t live the same. Focus on the good things in life like Anna did and not the bad. Peter/Maja

THEMES

Discrimination is bad because you don’t want to hurt people you want to make them happy. We get good thoughts or comments from someone we should pass a nice comment onto someone else. Kamal/Shival/Adam

Don’t show prejudice or use racist comments. No discrimination to others. Don’t judge others. Azad/Sidney/Om

What is stereotyping? It is a mistaken idea or belief that is held about a group of people that involves labelling them. Kiran

Stand up against racism. Don’t be afraid to report it. Millie/Ryan