In school this week, we have created Footprints of Welcome that the children would want to present to Little Amal, a 3.5 metre-tall puppet of a young refugee girl, created by the acclaimed Handspring Puppet Company. Representing all displaced children, many separated from their families, Little Amal is walking across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK, with a finale event in Manchester, England in November 2021. She is travelling a remarkable 8,000km in total, celebrating the power of art and shared humanity wherever she goes, and will be visiting Coventry on Wednesday 27th during half-term.
All of our children have learned more about the experiences Little Amal may have encountered through reading The Day War Came by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, a powerful and necessary picture book about the journey of a child forced to become a refugee when war destroys everything she has ever known.
Imagine if, on an ordinary day, war came. Imagine it turned your town to rubble. Imagine going on a long and difficult journey – all alone. Imagine finding no welcome at the end of it. Then imagine a child who gives you something small but very, very precious…
Here are just some of the messages our children created, showing great empathy towards Little Amal and all displaced children around the world. We are so proud of our children and the way they always demonstrate our school values.