This week, students and staff at Morton Academy are celebrating winning the Diversity Event of the Year Award at the Diverse Cumbria Awards.

The awards, now in its 7th year, celebrate the people, businesses and organisations who push for equality, diversity and inclusion across Cumbria. In celebration of their inspiring efforts those shortlisted joined together for a special awards ceremony on Saturday at The Halston in Carlisle.

The school won the award for their Jewish Living Exhibition, hosted at the academy in December last year. Previously located at the Tullie House Museum in Carlisle, the exhibition sought to provide students with the opportunity to learn about Judaism as well as to promote cultural understanding, tolerance and empathy.

As part of the exhibition, students participated in activities led by Rabbi Jeff Berger and heard from Peter Hart, son of Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon, who shared his mother’s experience of life in Auschwitz.

Richard McGuire, Principal of Morton Academy said:

“We are thrilled to have won Diversity Event of the Year at this year’s Diverse Cumbria Awards, in recognition of our efforts to promote tolerance and understanding through our Jewish Living Experience exhibition. Our students learnt a great deal from the exhibition and, in particular, found the testimony from Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon both insightful and sobering. We are honoured that the Diverse Cumbria Awards have highlighted this important work and we very much look forward to putting on further events for our students which teach them about the lives and histories of others.”