January Blog: Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day, 27th January
Many History DP students will be studying the Holocaust as part of their DP History programme; however, Holocaust Memorial Day provides the opportunity to discuss this key event with all students.
The theme for 2026 is Bridging Generations:
A reminder that the responsibility of remembrance doesn't end with the survivors - it lives on through their children, their grandchildren and through all of us. This theme encourages us all to engage actively with the past - to listen, to learn and to carry those lessons forward. By doing so, we build a bridge between memory and action, between history and hope for the future.
See below for some useful resources for assemblies:
Holocaust Memorial Day (BBC Teach)
An assembly framework and video to help mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
hmd.org.uk
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust resources.
The New Curriculum is coming soon!
This is an important year for us all as next month, February, the final curriculum guide for the new History DP course will be published by the IB.
First teaching will also start this year, in time for the May examinations in 2028.
We will let you know as soon as the final curriculum guide is published.
To help you manage the transition to the new curriculum, we will also have our site ready with new materials and guidance so that you will be well prepared to begin your teaching in August 2026.
We will also be offering Think-Ins (online training sessions) for the new curriculum.
History in the news
Students who are studying 19th and 20th Century US history, will see in Trump's recent actions in Venezuela a return to earlier US policy in the Latin America region. Trump has reasserted the Monroe Doctrine (now called by Trump the Donroe Doctrine). This is explained in the article below:
The following article provides a useful review of US intervention in the countries of the region over the past decades, and its consequences.
'Naked imperialism': how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US (the Guardian)
Most of the Americas have suffered from interference from their powerful northern neighbour and are usually the worse off for it
Anniversaries for 2026
2026 is another year of key anniversaries including the Two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776; the Seventy-fifth anniversary of the Treaty of San Francisco, September 8, 1951 and the fiftieth Anniversary of Mao Zedong's Death, September 9, 1976.
It is also the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, September 11, 2001 and the ensuing war in Afghanistan.
As this Council of Foreign Relations 2026 Anniversary page comments, "Anniversaries mark the passage of time, recall our triumphs, and honor our losses". And for teachers, they always provide a good opportunity to revisit key historical events and highlight their significance.
We will of course revisit these anniversaries during the course of the year on this blog page.
Happy New Year, and please continue to contact us with your questions, comments and suggestions!