Refugee Welcome Schools is a framework for welcoming refugees to a school community. Developed in South London in 2016,  it provides schools with a framework for planning, raising awareness and taking action to improve, the experience of refugee children and their families arriving in the UK. Evidence from pilot schools in London, Birmingham and Cardiff, suggests that this process helps to strengthen a school community as well as enhance the experience of refugees within it.

At Citizens:mk’s One-Day Training for School Councillors on 5th October 2018, 63 pupils from five member schools voted to prioritise the campaign goal of ‘becoming a Refugees Welcome School’ with the main aim being to persuade their number one power-holder, i.e. head teacher and/or chair of governors, to formally agree it.

To support this goal, a Refugees Welcome Schools breakfast launch was hosted by Grant Thornton and Dentons LLP UKMEA on Thursday 28th November – see news story.

Refugee Welcome School – Full pack

Refugee Welcome Schools – Best practice booklets

The first MK school to become an accredited Refugee Welcome School was Jubilee Wood Primary School – see story.

Others followed fast:  St. Paul’s Catholic School, Lord Grey School, MK College, Brooklands Farm Primary School – see presentation of certificates at Accountability Assembly 2018.  Others also joined:  Stanton Middle School, Pepper Hill First School, The Radcliffe School.

This follows the start-up of a Citizens:mk Refugees Welcome campaign which  grew fast three years ago and is now an independent legal entity, rwmk.org.uk.