When is Refugee Week?
Refugee Week takes place each year in June.
This will be from 17 to 23 June 2024, and the theme will be Our Home. From the places we gather to share meals to our collective home, planet earth: everyone is invited to celebrate what our Our Home means to them.
A teaching focus on Refugee Week can help children gain understanding of issues and vocabulary they may encounter in the news, as well as supporting the celebration of diversity and inclusion in your school.
“To me, a home is where you feel loved, safe, and cherished.”
Malala Yousafzai
What is Refugee Week?
Refugee Week is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Refugee Week 2023 invited people to celebrate what compassion looks like in action and show how arts and culture can help widen our circles of compassion.
Refugee Week resources and events 2024
This year we will be marking Refugee Week with classroom resources and an exciting line up of free virtual author events.
Refugee Week teaching resources 2024
Alongside virtual author events, we have produced a suite of supporting classroom resources for pupils aged 3-14 (early years, KS1, KS2 and KS3 age phases). You can download these at the bottom of the page and prepare for Refugee Week, beginning 17 June.
- For pupils aged 3 to 6 years: Explore My Name Is Not Refugee written by Kate Milner and complete a range of classroom activities aimed to engage pupils with key literacy skills and Refugee Week in an age appropriate way.
- For pupils aged 6 to 9 years: Explore the story of Adnan: The Boy Who Helped His Mummy Remember written by Mark Arrigo and Steven Chatterton and illustrated by Diala Brisly through class discussion and a follow up activity concluding with pupils writing their own of message of welcome to others into their community.
- For pupils aged 9 to 14 years: Explore the the official refugee week theme of 'Our Home' throughout Refugee Week through our five part classroom resource where pupils will explore work from a diverse panel of authors, writers and illustrators including Michael Rosen, Nikita Gill, Ramzee and Diala Brisly, concluding the week by writing their own reflective piece on the theme of home.
Refugee Week with Adnan
This session took place live on Thursday 20 June. However, it will be available to watch back on our YouTube channel until Thursday 27 June.
The event, hosted by authors Mark Arrigo and Steven Chatterton, explores the story of Adnan: The boy who helped his mummy remember.
It is designed for pupils pupils aged 6 to 9 (years 2 to 4/P3 to P5), and is a springboard for the classroom resources you can download below.
Refugee Week with Michael Rosen: On the Move, with BSL interpreter
This session took place live on Monday 17 June. However, it will be available to watch back on our YouTube channel until Monday 24 June.
It is designed for pupils aged 9 to 14 (year 5 to 9/P6 to S3), and is a springboard for the classroom resources to be used across the week. Download the free resources below.
The version with full BSL interpretation throughout is available here.
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