The group of 27 first year student-teachers from the university of Winchester spent time in local Church of England primary schools this week (St Faith’s, All Saints and St Bede’s in Winchester), with the aim of engaging year 6 classes on the theme of ‘children seeking sanctuary’.
The students were using some of the activities from The Bags of Hope booklet produced by our diocesan Education Team. ‘Bags of Hope’ is the project which all schools in our diocese will be looking at this year and will also be the theme of the Year 6 Leavers Services at the cathedral – it looks at the biblical values and imperatives around welcoming and standing up for strangers and refugees.
The University of Winchester is designated as a ‘university of sanctuary’ (echoing the fact that Winchester itself is a City of Sanctuary) and as part of their teacher training, the students can opt for additional enrichment modules.
Julie Wharton is an academic whose research area is inclusion and diversity in education and she teaches the special module on ‘including children seeking sanctuary’. She accompanied the students on the visits who are all taking the course.
She said, “As part of the module the students learn about language, emotional and social support, working with parents, and the legal framework. We also look at the contextual landscape around current cultural and societal attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers. We tend to look at how to teach these things through story, as a distanced way of what it is like to be a child seeking sanctuary.”
The students used stories to engage the Year 6 pupils, describing the experiences of children seeking sanctuary and then setting various creative activities. One of the activities asked them to draw a picture responding to the question ‘If you have to leave home suddenly, what item would you take?’
The children drew a range of interesting responses, from teddy bears, to first aid kits, to their pets! Seb, aged 11, drew a stress ball because he thought it would help during a stressful experience. “I have recently moved house and it was very hard and stressful and it would be even worse if you were moving from another country and didn’t speak the same language.”
Pippa Cain-James, one of the trainee teachers, spoke about how the activities were designed to develop empathy and compassion. “It’s great for the children to be learning about the wider world and why some children need to leave their homes to escape war and conflict. The module has been eye-opening for me too, understanding more about how children come here and how they are treated differently when they come to this country. It’s something I feel very eager about sharing because at the end of the day we are all people, we all bleed the same blood, and it’s important to start early with teaching our children this message of acceptance and welcome.”
Class teacher, Mrs Gale, said the children responded very maturely to the tasks and asked some great questions. “It’s also been important for us to reflect on being grateful for what we have in this country and the safe place we live,” she said.
Another activity asked the children to write a message of welcome on a luggage label that could be given to a child seeking sanctuary. Sophie, aged 11, wrote on hers: “I hope you feel safe here and I hope you find friends and I hope you are ok.” Another label said, “you are very brave for what you have done.”
Julie, Senior Lecturer at the university, also explained that the University of Winchester has a Christian foundation and as part of the module they look at the Christian origins of the language of sanctuary; how it comes from the ‘sanctuary’ part of a church building, a sacred space where a person running away could take refuge. “We also look at the children’s book ‘Refuge’ with the students and consider how Jesus was a refugee and the story of the Massacre of the Innocents.
“Personally, all my career and research I have wanted to root what I am doing in the Christian message of welcome and inclusion and it’s been great to see that happening in schools today.”
