Schools and youth groups can take part in Refugee Week in many different ways.
Download our Ideas for Teachers and Youth Workers pack
Schools and youth groups can take part in Refugee Week in many different ways…. you could display information and materials, hold a drama event or concert, organise an art project or competition, hold assemblies about refugee issues, invite a speaker to come in or anything else that you can think of! Wherever you are, whatever the kind of school or youth group – there is so much that you could do.
Please let us know what activities you are planning during Refugee Week by inputting the details of your event onto the Events Calendar.
If you are interested in exploring the issues in the classroom, please take a look at the other pages in this section where you will find some suggested activities to get you started in either Primary or Secondary schools. There are general activities on the issues, and further sources of information and additional resources are also listed.
Refugee Week Assemblies
Christian Aid have two “assemblies of the month” on Refugee Week for primary and secondary learning on their learn website:
Positive Press
Children and young people tell us that racism and discrimination have a big impact on their lives.The media is part of the problem, but can also be the route to a solution, by promoting positive images of young refugees and asylum seekers.
Through the Positive Press project, 75 children and young people were able to speak out about issues that affect them. They worked together, using communications and the media to challenge discrimination and reduce community tension.They included both refugees and non-refugees from four communities in Newcastle, Birmingham, Coventry and Hounslow.
Newcastle Positive Press project
The children of Positive Press Newcastle have designed a DVD to tell adults and other children about bullying and racism!
It conveys their feelings about these difficult subjects and their determination that we should all respect and celebrate individuals from around the world. Children formulated the plot, wrote the script, created the sets and props and did all of the voiceovers themselves. They chose the animation style to appeal to other children of the same age.
Coventry and Birmingham
In the West Midlands young people have been involved in all aspects of film-making from script writing and production to acting.The process helped them to recognise their own talents and abilities, and voice their views.The story concept is drawn from young people’s ideas, from both refugee and non refugee backgrounds in both Coventry and Birmingham.The group have produced a film called “Zakhme Dil – A Scarred Heart” which maps the experiences of young separated refugees in the Midlands. The story in this film is fictional, based on a range of experiences of young refugees in UK.The film does not depict or reflect any one individual’s personal circumstances or experience.
Hounslow, Middlesex
A group of young people from year 10 created the DVD: ‘Faces of the World’.They also wrote the background music.
The DVD looks at racism and immigration.There are five chapters.These are:
- Stereotyping
- Coming to Britain
- Impact of the media
- Meet the Public
- Celebrating Cultures
One young person said: ‘Differences are a perfectly good thing; they make us unique and who we are. Hopefully our DVD will show you that if everyone and everything was the same, the world would be boring’.
To order a DVD
A limited number of DVDs with all three short films on are available from Chris Macarthur, Information and Communication Officer at Save the Children England programme:
c.macarthur@savethechildren.org.uk
Please allow 28 days for delivery.
For further information and ideas why not join REFED. It is a free, easy-to-use email group for teachers and other people involved with refugee education. For more information and to join the group, visithttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/refed.