BRADFORD schools have once again been playing their part in a "hugely important" project to help bridge the gaps between different religions and cultures.

Both Carlton Bolling College and Tong High School have hosted exhibitions about the life and death of Jewish teenager Anne Frank.

Tong High School is hosting the "Anne Frank: A History for Today" display until Friday, and Carlton Bolling College had a similar exhibition last week.

With Holocaust Memorial Day taking place next week, and the recent terrorist attack against a Jewish supermarket in France, the exhibitions are particularly timely.

Organised by the Anne Frank Trust, the exhibitions see schools become temporary Anne Frank museums, while children in the school are trained as Anne Frank ambassadors, who show fellow pupils, parents and children from other school around the exhibition.

Tong High School Year 8 students have been leading tours of the exhibition for several local primary school students.

Teenager Anne Frank kept a diary after she and her family were forced into hiding when the German army occupied Amsterdam and continued their persecution of the Jews. She was eventually captured and sent to the Belsen concentration camp, where she died aged just 16.

The exhibition teaches children of similar ages about the dangers prejudice and hatred.

Last week Home Secretary Theresa May called for more to be done in the UK to combat anti semitism, making the Tong exhibition particularly timely.

Richard Morgan Curriculum Leader Citizenship - "We are delighted to be a host of the Anne Frank exhibition. Our Year 8 guides and ambassadors have been developing key leadership skills and have done an excellent job showing primary school children around the exhibition.

"The exhibition gives a real insight into the Holocaust and allows students to explore it on a more personal level through Anne Frank."

A spokesman for the Anne Frank Trust said: "the schools programme takes the poignant messages of Anne's life and diary and helps students understand the damage caused by prejudice and hatred. It is a harrowing, yet compelling, tale and one that they feel every child should learn about."

Councillor Ralph Berry said: "This is a wonderful project, and exactly the sort of thing schools should be doing.

"It is of the upmost importance that schools like Tong and Carlton Bolling are involved with things like this, particularly at this time. It is something that young people are leading on, and something that schools should be looking at as a good example in terms of values we should have here in Bradford.

"It is not just the Holocaust, they are teaching about genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda. Because it is being taught to young people we will end up with people who know how to and want to shape a better city."

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on the January 27 each year and is a time for everyone to remember the millions of people who have been murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is also the 20th anniversary of the Genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia.