CTIZENSHIP has been top of the agenda at Okehampton College this term, with moving assemblies marking Holocaust Memorial Day and a thought-provoking trip to Dublin.

Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the genocide of six million Jewish people and others in the second world war by Hitler's Nazis.

Each day of the week in which Holocaust Memorial Day fell the college held special house assemblies, at which citizenship leader Mike Gurney spoke about the life of Leon Greenman, the only Englishman to survive the Auschwitz concentration camp, who died last year.

The assemblies looked at Leon's life — born in London, he married a Dutch woman and ended up being deported to Auschwitz.

When his family arrived he was separated from his wife and child, whom he never saw again.

Like more than one million others, they were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

After the war, Leon Greenman became a tireless fighter against fascism, speaking about his experiences at schools and wherever he could reach an audience.

The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day this year was 'stand up to hatred'.

The assemblies pointed out that this is what Leon had spent his life doing, and that the school community faced a similar challenge in not allowing physical bullying or hateful language to go unopposed.

The assemblies ended with a quote from Leon:

'Young and old alike must learn about the Holocaust as warning against the dangers of racism.

'There is no difference in colour or religion.

'If I had survived to betray the dead it would have been better not to survive.

'We must not forget. Please do not forget.'

And two sixth form students from the college have recently returned from a trip to Dublin, having taken part in a project looking at how people around the world live in areas of conflict.

The Okehampton students met with Irish counterparts and a group of Palestinian students from the West Bank city of Hebron. The Irish students had been involved in a project that has been looking at the Israeli/Palestinian conflict — Israeli students had visited Dublin before Christmas.

Cameron Carter and Eden Peskett from Okehampton College were joined by another school group from Teignmouth for their Irish visit, part of an ongoing project called Coping with Conflict. The young people are investigating how conflict affects people and communities in the West Bank, northern Uganda and inner city Britain.

The students attended a day-long workshop including hard hitting debates about the possibilities of peace in the West Bank.

The day ended with an impromptu party including singing and dancing.

Eden said: 'I got a really good insight of what is happening in Hebron to the people who live there and how horrific the reality of it all is.'

Cameron said: 'It was a really enjoyable and informative weekend.'

Mike Gurney said: 'This was an excellent trip that brought a wider understanding of the reasons that underlie what can appear on the news as a very confusing conflict.

'Our students were a credit to the college and the organisers of the conference in Dublin went out of their way to thank our students for the contribution they had made.'

Eden and Cameron will lead a sixth form assembly based on their experiences in the near future.