Year 6 started their new Unit of Inquiry with a mystery immersive experience…
In preparation for this, the girls were given a slightly strange and confusing homework – ‘Find a shopping bag or something similar. Set a timer for five minutes. Now, imagine you have been told that you need to leave your home in five minutes time to go on a long journey. Pack whatever you think you will need and can get hold of it in five minutes. That’s all the time you have’… The bags of various shapes and sizes were brought into school with the girls still wondering what on earth was going on.
On Wednesday afternoon, with no prior warning, the announcement came that we had to leave. War had broken out in our village and we needed to leave straight away, with just the bags we had packed. Off we set on our journeys to find a safe place to live, a journey that many thousands of migrants and refugees undertake every year. Unfortunately, it was drizzling outside but that just added to the experience. Some of us had packed rain coats so we could cope with the weather, some of us had extra clothing so could put that on to keep warm and some of us had to just manage! We made various stops on our journey, each stop represented a difficulty that migrants are forced to make. Did we have enough food and water packed to last more than a couple of hours? Did we have something to keep us warm at night? Did we have sensible shoes that kept our feet dry? Did we have our passport so that we could cross into another country?
For most of these questions the answer was generally no! We had packed all sorts of items that we deemed very important but actually, when it came down to it, pencil cases, reading books, toys, headphones and pillows were not as useful as we thought they might be. It was tiring carrying our bags for 45 minutes around the school playing fields – how would it feel to carry all your belongings for days on end, through all sorts of different terrains and weather?
The experience ended with the girls given time to reflect on their journeys and the items they brought with them. Our Unit of Inquiry is all about migration and the reasons why people migrate. Hopefully, this activity will bring some understanding and empathy to our learning as we explore this important topic.
