The GCSE group spent three days in Poland, where they had a tour of Krakow and visited the Galicia Jewish Museum. They also heard a talk from a Holocaust survivor (pictured) who was a political prisoner from Russia. She told them how her whole family died in Auschwitz and she was adopted when she left the camp, only to be reunited with her mother a couple of years later. She explained that one of her strongest memories of the camp was the overpowering smell.

The trip finished with a visit to the notorious death camp where students saw the displays of hair and hundreds of pairs of shoes, along with the bunkers where prisoners slept and the gas chambers they were taken to.

History teacher Marissa Wright said: "The tour we went on focussed on the idea of hope and the photos we saw showed how the Jewish people never gave up hope.

"It's the first time we have taken a group to Auschwitz and I'd like to do it again because it gives students a real life experience of what went on. They can read about it in the classroom and look at photos but it's not the same as being there. They were gobsmacked by what they saw and the impact of what happened to these people. When you see people's belongings and children's clothes, it really hits you."