Newcastle children wrap presents donated for refugees

Children at a Newcastle primary school have been helping to make Christmas extra special for refugees and asylum seekers in the area.

​Our Lady & St Anne’s was recognised for its inclusivity and welcoming ethos earlier this year, when it became a School of Sanctuary, and has since been working with the St Vincent de Paul Centre, which supports homeless, refugee, and asylum-seeking families, and provides them with emergency food and clothing, English classes, support groups, and housing and benefits advice. Children at a Newcastle primary school have been helping to make Christmas extra special for refugees and asylum seekers in the area.

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Fifteen of the school's pupils, aged from seven to 11, visited the centre on Friday last week to help wrap Christmas gifts that had been donated for children in the community.

Kerry Milligan, School of Sanctuary Lead at Our Lady & St Anne’s, which is a member of the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, explained: “As part of our School of Sanctuary work in school, I reached out to the centre, as I wanted to get the children involved first hand in an organisation which supported people who were seeking asylum or were new to the country.

“I arranged a meeting with St Vincent’s, and we discussed all of the possible ways in which the children could volunteer and support the centre.

“Together we mapped out events over the Autumn term, and planned visits to the centre with my School of Sanctuary ‘SOS’ team.

“We put out an appeal to our parents in the run up to Christmas.

“Times are hard at the minute, but we asked if any parents could support the appeal and donate Christmas gifts for children in order to support St Vincent’s.”

She continued: “The children spent the morning at the centre, which is based on New Bridge Street in Newcastle.

“After an initial tour of the centre, during which the children were shown the food and clothing banks, the children were led to ‘Santa’s Workshop’ and were asked to wrap the gifts for St Vincent’s annual Christmas event.

“The children wrapped all of the gifts donated by the school and then some others which had been collected by the centre.

“They also helped to wrap cardboard boxes which would be used for food hampers given out to vulnerable families over the Christmas period.

“The children loved the experience and didn’t want to leave the centre.”

Sophia, who is in Year 5 at the school, commented: “I enjoyed going to the centre and it made me happy because I was helping people. I was very proud of our toy collection – it’s good to help other people.”

Fellow pupil Hasnain, from Year 4, agreed: “I liked wrapping presents for all the people – it was fun. I think the centre is good, as people who don’t have a home or food have somewhere to go.”

Ms Milligan added: “As a Catholic school, we do a lot of fundraising and appeals for charity, and, in the past, we have visited food banks, and taken food hampers to the local care home, but these experiences have been limited since the pandemic.

“I wanted to arrange more hands-on experiences for the children, so that they can see first hand the people who benefit from the school collections.

“These are invaluable experiences for the children, and ones which will stick in their memories for a long time.

“It is also heart warming to see how the children interact with the local community, and for the children to be acknowledged and rewarded for their SOS roles and responsibilities.”