A Day of Welcome is an annual day of solidarity and learning in schools that aims to build a culture of welcome and understanding for people seeking sanctuary. Celebrated by over 520 schools in 2024, it’s designed to support teachers in kickstarting Refugee Week by providing free live events, resources and activities for pupils of all ages.
A Day of Welcome will support you to:
- Build a culture of welcome, belonging and solidarity in your school for those seeking sanctuary
- Share stories of refugee migration, local and global, past and present, with your pupils
- Better educate and support your refugee pupils and their families.
Take a look at our fully-funded live events from last year. This year these include teacher CPD and events for both primary and secondary schools.
Download last year’s teachers’ guide to get a flavour of what to expect in 2025 – resources, events, suggestions and guidance.
What is A Day of Welcome?
Founded by teachers in Norfolk, and developed in partnership with Schools of Sanctuary and Anglia Ruskin University, A Day of Welcome is open to any school, from nursery to Sixth Form across, the UK. This year, it will be celebrated on Friday 14th June, ahead of Refugee Week (17th-23rd June 2024
Participating schools will be granted access to a bank of carefully curated activities, teaching resources, training opportunities and exclusive live events that they can pick and choose from. In previous years, these have included live webcasts with authors Dina Nayeri, Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed, Michael Rosen, Miriam Halahmy. If you would like to find out more, please visit here: News — Norfolk Schools of Sanctuary.
We also provide resources that are tailored to the contexts of various local areas and counties, from Norwich to Cardiff and beyond, that help school communities to understand how people seeking safety have played a part in making their own cities, towns and neighborhoods the places they are today. We all have a role to play in fostering a culture of kindness and, as the centre of our communities, the potential impact of schools is huge. We empower teachers to unlock this potential by facilitating a range of learning resources and by connecting schools with their wider networks of welcome.
For teachers, we also provide a range of Refugee Education resources and training events to help them better educate and support refugee pupils and their families.
Our Refugee Education partners include UNHCR, Refugee Education UK, Amnesty International and the Bell Foundation, and our bespoke teacher training has included live events with the International Rescue Committee. Find out more about our Resources…
Why sign up for A Day of Welcome?
Registered schools will get access to:
- A Teachers’ Guide – A summary of this year’s offer for Day of Welcome 2025 and everything you will need to plan your Day of Welcome. Released 20th March
- Teaching & learning resources– Providing new lessons, guidance and activities for KS1-KS4. Available online 24th April
- Free live events – By sharing books, art and stories, we will bring the voices and experiences of people with lived experience of seeking sanctuary into your classroom (for pupils 5-18 years old). Registration opens on 20th March
- Refugee Education support – Sharing the latest training and guidance on how best to support any pupils and families at your school who have experienced forced displacement. Available online 24th April
Our aspiration is to help every school to be a safe, welcoming and inclusive place for everyone, including those seeking sanctuary. Will you join us?
A Day of Welcome is organised in collaboration with
