Refugee Week assembly 2023
This Refugee Week assembly is ideal for use with your class or year group during Refugee Week in June or, more specifically, on World Refugee Day (20 June). 19–25 June 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of Refugee Week, which this year is on the theme of compassion.
The assembly consists of a PowerPoint of nine slides plus an accompanying script and is suitable for primary school or secondary school as it is aimed at key stages 2 and 3.
It is intended to help young people empathise with migrants to the UK and to understand the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers.
This KS3 or KS2 assembly asks students to imagine how they would feel if they had to flee their country, what they would take with them and what they would miss. It looks at famous refugees from around the world, explores what they have contributed to society and gives a brief overview of the movement of people throughout history.
It explains what the difference is between a refugee and an asylum seeker and touches on refugee issues such as coping with a different language, dealing with traumatic experiences and obtaining refugee status.
The assembly suggests how we can support refugees and asylum seekers and how pupils can get involved in Refugee Week.
Finally, it recommends a list of fiction and non-fiction books where pupils can find out more about the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers.
See our other assemblies for primary schools, including whole-school assemblies.
An extract from the script and notes:
Imagine that one day you need to leave your country because it’s too dangerous to stay there. You need to flee to an unknown land, where you’ve never been before. You don’t know the language, culture or people.
Ask: How would you feel if you had to leave your country?
Allow them time to discuss the question with the child/children next to them.
Ask: And what if you had to live somewhere like this?
Click to reveal an image of a refugee camp.
Refugee camps are temporary solutions where people can stay until they find a permanent place to settle. The aim of refugee camps is to offer short-term help and protection to adults and children who have had to leave their home countries.
However, while waiting for approval to live officially in a host country, asylum seekers may end up living in such camps for months or even years.
Ask: What would you miss? What would you like to have if you had to live here? What would you pack, and why? You can only take a few of your things with you, and you have to carry everything in a suitcase or rucksack.
