In June we celebrate  Refugee Week​  (14-20 June 2021), Refugee Festival Scotland (14-20 June 2021) and World Refugee Day (20 June).

Here are 3 books I recommend everyone to read:

1. Alpha by Bessora and Stephane Barroux, Graphic Novel

Alpha tells a story of a man, who flees his home country in search of his wife and child, who already left. As he tries to reach France to meet them, he encounters people traffickers, harsh conditions in refugee camps and people desperately trying to cross the sea in overcrowded and dangerous boats.

The journey that would take few hours on a plane, can take months or even years if you are a refugee. The illustrations are mostly black and grey, portraying the journey as never ending and hopeless.

You can watch Sarah Ardizzone (translator) and Bessora (author) talk about Alpha here.

2. Boy, Everywhere by A.M. Dassu, Fiction

This book is about Sami, a 13 year old boy living in Damascus with his parents and sister. After the local mall is bombed, his family decides they can no longer stay in Syria. Together they embark on a long journey through countries and continents, hoping to reach and find a new home in England.

Boy, Everywhere was included in 2021 Read for Empathy collection.
You can watch A.M. Dassu speak about empathy in this video.

3. Forced to Flee: Refugee Children Drawing on their Experiences, Non-fiction

Force to Flee is a collection of refugee children’s stories and drawings, focusing on children from Syria, South Sudan and Central America. The book describes a political situation in these places and explains why so many people try to flee them. It also includes a great list of additional resources for further reading.

None of these books are easy to read. They are heartbreaking, but powerful and important. You can find all these book in the Empathy display in the school library.

In February we celebrated LGBT+ History Month and ran our second writing competition. Our brilliant S6 Literacy Ambassadors were our judges again and chose Brodie C. from S2 as the overall winner! Brodie’s entry was about a drag queen RuPaul Charles and why they are a great role model. You can read Brodie’s entry in a Spring issue of Swatch magazine on page 7!

List of resources for LGBT+ History Month was shared with every student. The list includes tips for fiction and non-fiction books, bookshops to visit around UK, recommended articles to read, a free online zine and links to several organisations that offer help and information.

In March we celebrated World Book Day, every bookworm’s favourite day of the year! Our teachers started a lesson with reading from their favourite book and continued with a number of fun activities. Students guessed famous books from emojis and everyone loved guessing teachers from their bookshelves!

Kate Mallinder, author of two books for teenagers – Asking for a Friend and Summer of No Regrets, recorded a personalised message for us. She shared her tips for reading during lockdown that encouraged and inspired all of us.

Lastly, students were visited by a creative duo Metaphrog, who talked to them about their creative process and importance of reading. Sandra and John from Metaphrog answered pupils’ questions about creating comics, publishing books and many more. Students worked hard on creating their own characters and below you can find some of them. I am very proud of our talented students.

To make sure everyone was included in World Book Day, our amazing English Department set up a Blind Date with a Book for all members of staff.

PS. Anyone wishing to read more in 2021 (and beyond), check out this padlet for my tips and tricks!