Students stepped foot inside a synagogue for the first time as they learnt more about the events of the Holocaust.

Year 8 pupils from Canons High School, in Shaldon Road, Edgware, were invited to Edgware and District Reform Synagogue (EDRS) as part of an educational programme.

Rabbi Daniel Smith welcomed the students and spoke of his visit to Auschwitz and how he had gone on to help create Holocaust Memorial Day.

They were joined by GLA member for Barnet Andrew Dismore and Hendon MP Matthew Offord, as well as a delegation of Harrow councilors.

The event, which included a workshop for the teenagers, was led by EDRS’s youth and educational department.

Mala Tribich, a child of the Holocaust, spoke to the students and answered questions about her time in various concentration camps and her fight for survival.

Marian Cohen, director of education at EDRS said: “As every responsible community should strive for a better future. EDRS feels that it is very important to engage our local communities in raising awareness of the Holocaust and denouncing racial and religious hatred which should have no place in any community.”