Over 550 schools across the UK took part in A Day of Welcome this year, with more than 170,000 pupils, staff and families coming together to mark the annual day of solidarity with their school communities.
A Day of Welcome began in 2019 as a local initiative for schools in Norfolk, that helps to build a culture of welcome and understanding for people seeking sanctuary. Each year, we’ve managed to gain an increasing amount of interest and now, in its sixth year, we’re very proud to see A Day of Welcome being
celebrated in schools right across East Anglia, and as far afield as the North of England and Cardiff.
Each year, we provide schools with a variety of activities and lesson plans that are suitable for children and young people, ranging from KS1 to KS4. The historical inspiration for some of our content were the stories of the Kinder Transport, which saw refugee children brought to the UK by train to escape Nazi
Germany, and the little-known story of more than 4,000 Basque child refugees, who came to the UK by boat to escape fascism in Spain. We also provide resources specifically designed for schools in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex, West Yorkshire and Wales that share each county’s little-known history of refugee migration, and this is an area we are developing year on year.
“Given that the topic continues to make headlines year on year, schools want to help their pupils make sense of refugee migration. Taking part in A Day of Welcome supports them to do that in an age-appropriate, constructive and meaningful way. We share stories that humanise people seeking sanctuary: inspiring curiosity, creativity, empathy and kindness are at the heart of what we do. Developed by experts, our resources and events support schools to meet their legal and statutory obligations as they build a culture of welcome and understanding for everyone, regardless of their immigration status.”
Jake Rose-Brown, Norfolk Schools of Sanctuary Lead
There are currently more than 1200+ schools, colleges and nurseries of sanctuary in the UK. We are proud that the Day of Welcome has played an important part in building and supporting this network, and we continue to work hard to support schools who are currently seeking to join our network by
becoming a School of Sanctuary.
Author webcasts
Amongst the highlights of A Day of Welcome 2024 were the four inspiring webcasts hosted by acclaimed writers, Gulwali Passarlay (Bobble) Nadine Kadaan (The Power of Welcome), and Jaz O’Hara and her brother Mez from Asylum Speakers. Watched by more than 18,000 school children across the UK,
the authors and speakers talked about works that had been inspired by stories of migration and displacement, and answered questions sent to them by the children.
Funded by VNET and the Young Norfolk Arts Trust, organisers said they were seeing an unprecedented level of interest in migration issues.
“VNET Education was delighted to be involved again with the Schools of Sanctuary’s ‘Day of Welcome’ this year. Spreading the message of sanctuary and inclusion to so many children will have a positive impact on the world they are growing up in.”
Nania Poulson, Operations Director at VNET
A Day of Welcome 25
We’re looking forward to growing our community of welcome even more and sharing our message with more schools in the coming year. To register your interest for 2025, click here.
Pupils’ Work
We absolutely love seeing the results of our resources and sharing school children’s work with our wider community. If you would like to share your school’s work from A Day of Welcome 2024, please email your photos to dayofwelcome@uk.cityofsanctuary.org
