For book week this year, Year 5 focused on the poignant picture book 'The Day War Came' by Nicola Davies, which relates to our global value of Conflict and Peace. On Wednesday, we shared the book as a class read and discussed the themes of refugees, war and identity. The story follows a young Syrian girl's day which started off as normal but by lunch time, war came. She lost everything and everyone, so (like many others) made the journey across Europe to seek refuge in the UK. When getting to the UK, she wasn't able to attend a school as there was not a chair for her to sit on. Later, children from that class brought her (and her friends) chairs from their homes so they too could come to school.

This beautiful book opened up lots of fantastic discussions in Year 5 and we spent a lot of time talking about how it relates to our Vine values and saying "All are welcome here". We reflected on the symbolism of the chair and how it represented a fresh start, showed the child that she was welcome. In response, we decorated wooden chairs as a class to represent how we welcome all in our school making them as appealing and welcoming as we could. Pupils also took time designing their own chair and wrote beautiful poems to go with their designs. 

Some of the children were shocked by the story that we read and were inspired to want to do something to change. What a fantastic way to end the term!