Liz Kessler, the multiple award-winning author of ‘When the World Was Ours’, visited HGS – albeit virtually – to share her experiences of writing what is a very touching novel inspired by the circumstances her family faced as a result of the Holocaust.

During the visit, we learnt many things about the war and I was personally intrigued by how the main storyline, characters and settings were crafted.

In the discussion, we learnt about the journey that Liz Kessler took across Europe to research information for her book. She shared personal letters and documents that defined her family’s past including a passport with a sign indicating Jewish identity. The world has since changed from the taxing war and concentration camps and other sites are still around such as sites in Auschwitz. We also were told about the tour guide whilst exploring a region in Europe and how he expressed some form of distaste against Jews thus showing us that Antisemitism still exists in pockets. Antisemitism is marginalising Jewish people from other people or a form of racism against Jews. As Liz Kessler was explaining the meaning of this you start to see the importance of modern-day racism, which is still a huge problem, and how we should respect one another for who we are.

Furthermore, we discovered that Liz Kessler’s great grandmother, Elsa, was a victim of the war and that the character Greta is a symbol of those who speak out against the subjugation of marginalised groups. We learned that Leo represents the Jews who escaped Nazi-controlled areas and that Elsa represents the other outcome. Max represents those who work or have joined with the Nazi rule through force or pressure. He is the inner part of humanity that compels us to question wrongful things.

Nearing the end of the interview, Liz Kessler detailed the writing process – from research to final production. We were told that it took serious determination and thorough research to produce ‘When the World Was Ours’. Kessler herself said that writing the book itself was one of the hardest things to do as throughout its creation she had to come to terms with the hard-hitting history behind Nazi rule and how almost 80 years on, regimes continue to ostracise minority groups. This, for her – and us – was an incredibly moving and emotional part of her discussion and we will never forget the impact that this visit had on us.

Thanks to this, we not only have a fantastic story to read but an understanding of how looking back to the past allows us to make sense of today.

‘When the World Was Ours’ shows us that the light of human kindness can shine even in the darkest of times.

Kirushikan Sunthereswaran

The Big Bang Fair was extremely fun and interesting – we had the opportunity to learn about different scientific industries and to participate in different activities. We also were able to collect many freebies, and my favourite one was the cube puzzle that we were challenged to make in less than two minutes.

We listened to a talk about inspiring careers, with the most interesting career being in Formula E. As well as this trip being fun, it taught us things that we did not know before. For example, I learnt about why people saw different colours on a picture.

The people at the fair were friendly, and answered all of our questions. There were many scientists and engineers who created prototypes for their projects and explained it to us. I also enjoyed the challenges- for example we had to find a scientist or an engineer and ask them a question to earn a sticker. If you collected three of them, you would have a chance to win a prize.

Overall, I enjoyed this trip massively!

Reeyan Iqbal (7W)

I now know what an umbraphile is (and it’s not as bad as it sounds.) It took me approximately 7 seconds to discover. The Universe kindly delivered a beautiful full moon last week so I took to Wikipedia for something intelligent to say about it. A reference to umbraphile’s piqued my curiosity. Two clicks later, I learned they are lovers of shadows, eclipse chasers, folk who travel the world in order to witness the moments when the Sun, Moon and Earth align.

Two clicks. Seven seconds. Question answered. Had my teen-self encountered the same word 40 years ago, what would I have done? Dragged out the Encyclopedia Britannica? Unlikely, as those weighty volumes mostly did service as ramps for the Scalextric slot car track in our house. Or asked a teacher or parent? Equally unlikely, as the asking of unsolicited questions was certain to get you branded a nerd. Plus, the word sounds a bit dodgy, so the embarrassment alarms would have been sounding. The truth is, however intrigued I may have been in the instant that I saw this strange new word, my teenage curiosity would almost certainly have flitted elsewhere before an easily accessible answer came to hand.

Curiosity is often a flash of gold in a fast-moving river. Miss the moment to mine it and you are unlikely to find it again later. We are all born hard-wired to be curious; it’s how the species survives. Often though, ‘natural curiosity’ is used as in the pejorative. We tend to associate the term with children poking screwdrivers into electric sockets or asking awkward questions. What is worse, schools have done a pretty fair job of institutionally hammering the curiosity out of young people in the past few centuries.

Back to umbraphiles then. Two clicks, seven seconds and the answer to an idle, fleeting curiosity is now mine. Admittedly I am not likely to drop the word into daily conversation, but the itch in my brain was scratched and I learned something new.

And if I, an immigrant to the virtual world, am using the ubiquitous wealth of the web that way, imagine what the digital natives are doing. Our young people are growing up knowing that answers to their questions are often just a free wi-fi connection away. Yes, yes, we must teach them to be discerning about what they discover, to not be distracted by facile trivia, to always avoid the dark places on the Net. We should know what our children are accessing on social media and help them to understand the importance of using social media and the internet responsibly and intelligently. But just think; every time they have a fleeting curiosity about anything, they have an instant option to at least try and resolve it. They have just as many questions as we did at their age, but are much more likely to pursue them because answers are closer to hand.

By all means, we must keep talking and educating about digital safety in all forms. Let’s agree that schools must not be replaced by headphones and hard drives. Let’s insist that our children lift their heads from their screens occasionally and look up. But when they automatically ask Uncle Google a question, let’s celebrate. Because for all its ills, surely the internet is bringing our curiosity out of the shadows? We just need to ensure it does so safely, responsibly and intelligently – at all times.

Stay safe and well.

Be kind to yourself and each other.

Best wishes,

Dr Bird

Please see the following Online Safety Guide for Parents:

2022 Online Safety Guide for Parents