In a recent post I spoke out a collaborative projected between Knox Academy and Queen Margaret University. 10 pupils from S1 worked with final year community theatre students from the BA(Hons) Drama and Theatre Arts course. The final piece told the story of a small town in East Lothian called North Barr.  The pupils worked really hard and seeing the finished product was a joy to watch with some great storytelling and imagery used. A big thank you to the four students from QM who worked really hard on their project to make it a success. It gave our pupils a real chance to shine and show the people of East Lothian the talent we have here at Knox Academy.  The ‘Mussel-In’ project received the Santander Community Award for contribution to their local community with Knox Academy sharing the award. We are over the moon for all those involved and again a big thank you to everyone who supported the project. The four students who created the project should be very proud of their work and I’m sure we will see them nuturing the young talent of Scotland in the coming years.

On the 27th January 1945 the Red Army marched into the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz and liberated the prisoners from their opressors.

Seven years ago National Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) was created to commemorate, to educate and to prompt action in the UK. HMD commemorates the lives of those lost in the Holocaust; as a result of Nazi persecution and in more recent genocides. It educates about the Holocaust and it lessons for the present day. It prompts action in the UK highlighting the continuing dangers of racism, anti-semitism and all forms of discrimination.

As a teacher and theatre pracitioner I feel that it is so important to educate young people about the Holocaust and Genocide since World War Two. We are now getting to a stage in history where first hand stories are being lost and it is up to children and grand children of survivors to pass on information.

Throughout the Drama Curruiculum  at Knox Academy students experience various insights into the Holocaust… S1 look at the Holocaust through Dance/Drama, S2 look at the topic through the eyes of Refugees and writing monologues to perform and the S6 have just completed In Holland Stands a House about Anne Frank, as well as looking at scenes from Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. I have just written the Standard Grade course for next year and the students will have to create a piece of Docu-Drama based on Genocide. All these topics look at the aims of HMD and hopefully will engage students.

I think it should be council wide that all schools should be doing something active for HMD; an assembly, cross curricular work, research, presentations etc anything that will enable the students to look at the topic and engage them.

We are living in a world where sadly Genocide happens and yet young people are quite niave about the topic due to lack of education, please don’t think that is only a teachers job, I feel parents and the governement should also be doing all they can to make young people understand that being different for whatever reason is actually fine. The tragedies of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur have shown that the international community, and each of us as citizens, have not truly understood the lessons of the Holocaust.

Every year, a different theme is announced for HMD. In 2008, the theme is Imagine…remember reflect react.

Knox Academy has already started their work towards the day, ending with a memorial by the senior students for those who have died throughout the world. It is my aim that Knox Academy makes this a day in their calendar, enabling students to look at the day each year from a different point of view.

Imagine… what it is like

remember… the past

reflect… on the memories

react… so it won’t happen again

What will you be doing on the 27th?

The S2 students are about to do a unit in Drama called JO which looks at why a boy ran away from home. By using Theatre in Education we try to ask students to put themselves into the characters shoes. Theatre-in-Education (or TIE or Diadactic theatre) is a medium of theatre for exploring various issues with young people.

In recent weeks the channel four soap Hollyoaks has been airing a storyline which I think they have handled with great care and consideration and the acting has been first rate. It is said that Eating disorders will affect one in four of us during our life times.

An eating disorder is a complex compulsion to eat, or not eat, in a way which disturbs physical and mental health. The character of Hannah has been battling with Anorexia Nervosa due to wanting to fit in with her peers.

From a personal point of view whilst at school and at Drama school I was always aware of my weight and the way I felt bigger than the ‘normal’ boys within my year. The overwhelming need in dance class to stay at the back of the studio so I couldn’t see myself in the mirror; the need to comfort eat when things were getting too hard and then making myself sick as I felt guilty. It has only been since I left Drama school that I have accepted my body for what it is, realizing that every person on this earth is different (albeit the media have a different attitude). Although I was never diagnosed with Bulimia or any osrt of eating disorder, as my reaction to food wasn’t continous, I was definitely suffering from some sort of ‘eating disorder’ in realtion to the media pressure of fitting in and the way I used food as comfort. I’m not embarassed in saying this as i’ve never regretted anything I have done. As an actor you must bring elements of the personal to your work.

Eating disorders are becoming more and more common amongst young men and women who are trying to fit into the daily lives of stereotypes and the perfect body. The media representation of both men and women and the discussion of eating disorders within schools need to be addressed. I know there is a push to be healthy eaters but what about teaching how to accept your body for the way it is?

I think Hollyoaks have dealt with the topic amazingly and I now want to readdress the TIE unit I do in S2 to look at eating disorders, either from under eating or from over eating but also looking at how everyone is a different shape, size etc and we do not need to fit into what the media says a ‘woman’ or a ‘man’ should look like. The unit will look at a central character and possibility the small things that have made look at their body and their food.

Which teachers discuss this topic in their curriculum?