Resources for Refugee Week

This year’s Refugee Week theme is ‘Our Shared Future’ and it celebrates the brilliant things that Britain’s communities have worked together to build, whilst also being hopeful about a future enriched by all people who call the UK home.

To help you to teach or facilitate sessions on refugee rights we have put together a selection of materials produced by us and other organisations which you can use to celebrate the contribution that refugees make to the UK! 

Searching for Syria

Use this website to allow students to explore what Syria was like before the war, what is going on in Syria, where Syrian refugees are going and how students can help. It has some excellent 360 photos of Syria before the war and some thoughtful pieces of information which will build empathy in students around refugee rights.  

Refugee Week resources

The Refugee week website has a number of different resources that schools can use to teach about refugee rights. These include a selection of interesting films and a lesson which looks at the human impact of the refugee crisis, both of which enable powerful discussion around the experiences of refugees to take place. They also have a number of excellent clips which make ideal starters for a lesson on refugee rights. 

Time to Flee lesson plan

Use this one hour lesson to help students understand why people become asylum seekers and the difficulties they face on arrival in another country. It explores the key definitions of refugee, asylum seeker and persecution and asks students to step into the role of a refugee family and begin to understand the hard decisions that are made.   

Seeking Safety adaptable activities

Use these eight interactive and adaptable activities to enable primary school classes to explore issues around asylum. It includes background information on refugees and asylum seekers to support teachers in discussions, as well as activities which explore specific stories of refugees and what we all have in common. 

Seeking Refuge

Use these animated clips to explain the different experiences of people who seek refuge throughout the world. You can explore the story of Navid and a number of others as they adjust to life in the UK, to engage students how it feels to seek refuge somewhere else. 

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah

Watch this clip of Actor Alexander Vlahos reading extracts from 'Refugee Boy' by Benjamin Zephaniah. In this clip, he explains why he loves the book as well as how it captured his imagination. His reading covers his favourite parts of the book and is useful to engage students with refugee rights in literature. 

When you don’t exist

Watch this clip to get students to consider the global refugee crisis from a different perspective. It asks them to think about what it’s like to be rejected as a refugee and be treated as unwanted. It is a good way to build empathy in students and an excellent starter to a lesson on refugee rights. 

Life as a refugee

This excellent clip from Save the Children asks students to consider how much can change over the course of a year in a child’s life. It begins with the birthday of a young girl and over the course of the clip explores how her life changes as she becomes a refugee. It is a great way to engage young people in discussion around the refugee crisis. They have also made a follow up clip which covers the next stage in this child’s life which shows students that the challenges faced by refugees don’t end once they find a safe country. 

Short films about refugees

This blog highlights seven free short films about refugees which educators can use as useful conversation starters for anyone wishing to learn more about human rights. Find here seven freely available videos on the reality of life as a refugee, ranging from one to 16 minutes in length. Recommended by Amnesty International’s human rights education network.