Refugee Week

During Refugee Week, the children of St Lawrence learn a lot about refugees through Collective Worship and respond to what they have learnt through art, prayer and discussion. Each class explores a book with a refugee theme, they then discuss the main themes and respond through for example, artwork and writing which will be displayed in our main school corridor in the new school year.

The children have previously tied ribbons to the school railings to represent prayers for refugees in our country and throughout the world.

We have also had visits from Becky Dell, a beloved member of the St Lawrence Church community and Musical Director of the Citizens of the World Choir that she set up in 2017 after the closure of the Calais Jungle. Lord Roger Roberts of Llandudno dreamt of a project that would open its arms to the refugee community in the UK with a vision “to promote integration and healing through the power of music.”

Becky has spoken to the children about how her desire to help and support the refugee community started during a Midnight Mass at St Lawrence Church at Christmas. She told them about her work with the choir and her first hand experiences with refugees at the camp in Calais which the children found both moving and inspiring. The children asked her questions and showed Becky how much they had learnt and understood from Refugee Week. She was really impressed with their ability to articulate deep and thoughtful questions and commended them on their empathy.

At St Lawrence CE Primary School, we are looking to develop our national and international links; to look outwards and beyond ourselves. With this in mind next year, we are looking at building on our new friendship with Becky and thinking about how we can encourage our children to take our school values of Love, Compassion and Respect out of our school gates and into the world to impact positively on the citizens of the world.