Chronicle January 2021

27 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Asylum Welcome By Amy Hill, Communications Manager

looking at serious issues through a surrealist lens, both the actors and the audience can gain a deeper understanding. It will be an exciting challenge for the company to get to grips with an issue that’s at the forefront of our national consciousness.’ Whilst the first rehearsals took place online, the company hopes to gather in person this term. Harriet Hinze, Subject Leader of English at The Swan School, said ‘We are thrilled that six ambitious Swan drama students have been selected to be part of OX2 Collective. As a brand new school, with big ambitions for extra- curricular drama, this affords our pupils a unique and exciting opportunity to be involved in a very prestigious nationwide project.’ Rachael Henshilwood, Director of Development and Partnerships at St Edward’s, said, ‘The School is delighted to be partnering with The North Wall and The Swan School on this brilliant initiative. Drama is such a powerful educational tool on so many levels so we are thrilled that pupils from both schools will be learning and performing together in true collaboration and enterprise. This project is one of a developing programme of initiatives called Beyond Teddies that strives to bring people across our community together to learn and support each other.’ The company will work together for six months, learning new skills in workshops and rehearsing weekly to develop the production before performing in front of a live audience in May. A new cohort of company members will join OX2 Collective at the beginning of each school year, working together towards a new National Theatre Connections production, inspiring young people for years to come.

Asylum Welcome is well known in Oxford for its vital work with refugees, asylum seekers and those detained in the asylum system. The charity sees hundreds of people and families every year who have uprooted their lives, travelled thousands of miles and are trying to get back on their feet and support themselves. This can be an enormous challenge as trauma and the language barrier make it harder to find reliable and fairly-paid work – and suitable affordable housing can be hard to find.

It is a positive step forward for us to be collaborating with this important organisation, not only by supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community, but also by fostering understanding and integration between our pupils and staff, and the migrant community. Our partnership has started off at a difficult time, and the virus has meant that a great deal of our joint activity, so far, has been in the planning stage. But this has its advantages, and means that once we are able to begin our projects, we will indeed be ready to get going. Just before Christmas, we were able to get one important project underway. The Teddies community donated gifts and clothes for the 87 families supported by Asylum Welcome and a wrapping day was organised so that teams of volunteers – following all social distancing guidelines – could wrap, pack and deliver the gifts. People really got behind

learn English very quickly through school, their parents can often find this more of a challenge. Together we are planning an evening school, where parents can come to learn English, supported by teachers and Sixth Form pupils. We intend to provide supper and a crèche to enable parents of young children to attend. Further ideas include a gardening club, where families associated with Asylum Welcome, and Teddies pupils and staff can work together on planting projects and garden tidying, and a drama group, working collaboratively with pupils, staff and The North Wall. Last year, The North Wall hosted an evening of live music, comedy and poetry in support of Asylum Welcome and we look forward to more events like this in the future as the partnership grows.

the collection, and we were completely overwhelmed by the generosity shown. One of the main barriers to integration has always been language, and Asylum Welcome finds that while children

Charlotte Hanslip helps with the big wrap before Christmas