New Vaughan school named for Anne Frank

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 9, 2014
By Simone Joseph

Anne Frank Public School is a new school that opened in September in Thornhill-Maple.

The school is west of Bathurst Street between Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive, at the intersection of Ilan Ramon Boulevard and Valley Vista Drive.

The school is named after Anne Frank, a German-Jewish teenager who was forced to go into hiding during the Holocaust. After being betrayed to the Nazis, Anne, her family and others living with them were arrested and deported to Nazi concentration camps. In March of 1945, nine months after she was arrested, Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. She was just 15.

Anne’s diary was saved during the war by one of the family’s helpers, Miep Gies. It was first published in 1947. Today, her diary has been translated into 67 languages and is one of the most widely read books in the world.

A write-up about the school says: “Choosing the name Anne Frank School is not without obligations. A school bearing the name Anne Frank obliges itself to stand up for freedom, justice, tolerance and human dignity and to resolutely turn against any form of aggression, discrimination, racism, political extremism and excessive nationalism. As an Anne Frank School, we have two important responsibilities: Keeping the memory of Anne Frank’s story alive and stimulating pupils to think about issues such as freedom, diversity and mutual respect.”

There are more than 266 schools around the world named after Anne Frank. The Vaughan school is the first school named after her in Canada.

It has about 500 students in Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8, 54 staff members and 23 classes including a junior autism community class and a student support centre.

For more details, go to anne.frank.ps@yrdsb.ca