REFUGEES in AUSTRALIA

Menai High School students take part in refugee week activities
Students at a Sydney high school work together to create a refugee camp simulation activity. © NSW Department of Education and Communities

GETTING INVOLVED

schools

Schools raise awareness about refugee lives and experiences by:

Some examples

The Refugee Challenge

Menai High School conducted a simulated refugee experience called ‘The Refugee Challenge’. Staff and students come together in creating an experience of displacement for students as they travel the path of a refugee, from the point of having to leave their home country, to the point of being processed as an asylum seeker on arrival at their destination. Gymea Community Aid and other schools joined, and now also create the simulated refugee camp experience, using it as a vehicle to promote awareness at times such as Refugee Week.

The refugee challenge is also run in Wollongong every year, by Wollongong City Council, with a different school each year.

Belonging art project

Fairfield Primary School partnered with the Art Gallery of NSW, and two artists, in the Belonging project, that enabled their young students from refugee backgrounds to explore their stories and experiences through art.

Refugee Week resources

Schools in Wollongong worked with Wollongong City Council to develop films that gave voice to young refugees about their experiences of resettling in Australia. The aim of the films was to raise awareness about refugees living in the community. The council then worked with schools to develop teaching notes to assist in using the videos in classrooms.