After the Paris bombings and the atrocities in Beirut and Turkey, I thought about what we could say to our students. We have had special assemblies before: when Nelson Mandela died we held extraordinary assemblies for everyone. Drawing on our staff resources, then we were privileged to hear from colleagues Ronnie and Richard, who had grown up in Apartheid South Africa – on what were then two different sides of a divide. The students had never been more attentively still and silent as when these two colleagues were talking about their childhood, in a world so divided it seemed unimaginable to our young Londoners today.

And here we were again, as after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, in this responsible position of influence and counsel: with a duty to guide our young people in their thinking and feeling after another traumatic event.

Again, I drew on staff resources. We held a short lunchtime meeting to pool ideas. As always shared wisdom trumps individual ideas on almost every count. Our staff have a very strong commitment to diversity, to appreciation and understanding of each other and to caring for our students. We determined that we would focus on tackling Islamophobia and call out the media blurring of distinctions between radicalism, extremism and terrorism.

On this occasion Mr Hesse had the first assembly – with all the sixth form. He was supported by Ms Begum who spoke calmly and intently about her view, as a British Muslim and as a government and politics teacher, of the events. Mr Hesse had collected some strongly worded quotes from President Obama through to Muslim leaders about the so called “Islamic State” being no true part of Islam. Mr Hesse also took the Thursday assembly, supported by Ms Abdullah.

I took the Wednesday assembly supported again by Ms Begum. I spoke about the honourable tradition of radicalism which exists in our local area. Extremism to me is a view that does not accept the legitimacy of others’ views; terrorism is the violent practice of extremists who will not hesitate to harm others. Neither of these have a part in our set of values.

I also drew on the previous week’s assembly: Remembrance Day. We had ended that assembly considering how all conflicts do end – and how ultimately the peace making always involves discussion and increasing understanding. These and restorative justice are part of our school values.

I was reminded when I spoke to a small group of Year 7 children at break time that day of how sometimes young people just want to feel safe. When I asked if they had any questions one 11 year old girl said “Will they come and bomb London?” My answer was that it was possible but unlikely – the last such act had been ten years ago – we’ve had ten years without a mass killing. That seems a long time: although in writing this it also seems bizarre that we can measure time as being between acts of atrocity. I hope I reassured her and her companions.

We want our children to feel safe, we want the diverse group of our community to feel united, we want to oppose any form of violence. We do not want to be divided: we want to be united. This is what I want our students to know, feel and think.

Annie Gammon