Radio WM Interview - Refugees and Asylum Seekers

On Monday morning we were called to the chapel and asked if we would speak about refugees and asylum seekers for a Radio West Midlands interview.

On Tuesday, Barbara Forbes who is the secretary of ‘Schools of Sanctuary’ came into school to help us prepare for the interview. Serenity talked about a book she had read in primary school, ‘The Refugee’ and James has relatives who are closely involved with helping refugees in Birmingham. She set us at ease and gave us a bit of background information as to why we are carrying out the red heart campaign.

Last term we painted hearts orange- the colour of the refugee nation flag based on the colour of life boats. James visited Little Amal, the refugee puppet who represented 1000s of children who get separated from their families whilst travelling through Europe. The red hearts ‘Be my Valentine – oppose the anti-refugee bill’ is something we started in school to take to our MP, Gary Stanbrook hoping he would vote against Clause 11 – making it harder for asylum seekers to get refugee status in our country.

At 2pm on Tuesday we got taken out of our lessons as we were told the interview was about to begin. We were suddenly incredibly nervous. Kath from Radio WM introduced herself and we were set at ease. The interview went so quickly and we are looking forward to hearing it over the next few days as it is hard to remember what we said.

Just remember – no-one puts their children in the water unless the water is safer than the land.

Serenity and James – Year 8