Creating a culture of welcome and understanding for refugee and asylum seekers.
Refugee Week, which takes place from Monday 19 to Sunday 25 June, is an annual festival that brings people together, encourages understanding of refugee experiences and provides a platform for the voices and creative work of people who have sought safety. This year’s theme is ‘Compassion’.
On Friday 16 June, many of our schools are taking part in the ‘Day of Welcome’, to build a culture of welcome and understanding for refugees and asylum seekers. We also worked with Pendleton library to run a competition with local schools to write book reviews based on asylum themes – winning entries will be publicly displayed in the library and the winners will be invited to a celebration event. Thank you to our Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS) Team for their ongoing work to raise awareness amongst our communities and supporting those in need of sanctuary.
Check our City of Sanctuary page
Day of Welcome is a day of solidarity and learning in schools that aims to build a culture of welcome and understanding for refugees and asylum seekers.
The celebration is designed to support schools and families in marking Refugee Week (19 to 25 June) and to send a clear message that for those in need of sanctuary, our communities are welcoming places.
Last June, we had over 11,000 Key Stage 2 pupils join us for A Day of Welcome’s live webcasts with Michael Rosen and Miriam Halahmy. Due to their resounding success, we’ve decided to work with some exciting authors to deliver two new webcasts for 2023. The authors will be drawing on their lived experience and inspirational creative work to help pupils better understand the experiences of refugees.
This page was last updated on 15 June 2023