Today's assembly focused on National Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2011, and the launch yesterday of a great new website: www.theholocaustexplained.org which vividly explains to young people the events and issues of the period.

66 years ago the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz was liberated, marking the end of the systematic  and deliberate murder of Jews and others. Mrs Debbie Lewis, Head of RS, will be attending the Holocaust Memorial Ceremony with JAGS sixthformers. Today she spoke to us all about the importance of respect for the testimonies they will find on the new website and showed us clips of survivors Freddie and Simon. It took Freddie's daughters years to persuade him to unlock his memories so that they really knew what he'd experienced, and from the moment he started hours of talking, the nightmares stopped. Simon's message was simple: "By the way we vote and react to acts of oppression and violence, we can stop atrocities happening again."

The new website is the culmination of planning with government, international organisations, the London Jewish Cultural Centre and school pupils, some of them at JAGS. Head of Sixth Form, Mrs Vikki Askew, was a key advisor on the content and its accessibility for young people. It's their site. It's their future.

"Did the world learn anything?" asked Mrs Lewis. "If you think of Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur, then the answer is no." It's not too late to reflect on the issues, to stand up and to make our voices heard.

26 January 2011