Community partnership
Educational work should be shaped with, not merely about, the people most affected.
Educational and ethical foundations
Principles
The educational and ethical foundations of the project.
Our approach
Guiding principles
Grenfell should not be presented merely as a closed historical case study. It remains connected to living families, communities, legal processes, public memory and debates about justice.
Humanity and systemic injustice
Teaching should begin with people and community, while also examining the wider failures that made the disaster possible.
Practical support for teachers
Teachers need reliable knowledge, ethical guidance, classroom strategies, curriculum links and high-quality resources.
Teaching principles
Principles for teaching about disaster and justice
These principles help teachers connect remembrance with human experience, structural conditions, institutional responsibility, community response and the continuing pursuit of justice.
Start with humanity, not the horror.
Begin with people, relationships, homes and community.
Honour lived experience.
Use testimony and community knowledge with respect and preparation.
Situate events in social and structural context.
Help learners understand decisions, systems and conditions.
Emphasise justice, not just memory.
Connect remembrance to accountability and civic responsibility.
Support emotional safety and dialogue.
Create structured, reflective and non-extractive spaces.
Teacher guidance
CARE-LEAD
Reflective guidance for professional judgement before, during and after teaching about Grenfell or other difficult histories.
CARE
- Clarify Purpose — why this material is being taught.
- Assess the Room — who is present and what support may be needed.
- Resource with Legitimacy — which sources and voices are appropriate.
- Enact with Trauma-Informed Structure — how emotional safety will be supported.
LEAD
- Leverage Medium Deliberately — how texts, images, testimony or creative work are used.
- Evaluate Without Extractive Assessment — how learning is recognised responsibly.
- Aftercare and Continuation — how pupils are supported after the lesson.
- Duty of Accountability — what responsibilities continue beyond one lesson.