To mark the 25th Anniversary of the global movement that is Refugee Week, Wednesday, 21st June saw a third fantastic celebration of Swindon’s cultural diversity hosted by Lawn Manor Academy. Previous Celebration of Welcomes events were held in June 2019 and June 2022.

This year’s Refugee Week theme was Compassion. As well as the Celebration of
Welcomes evening, activities around the school happened throughout the week,
including an Art and Poetry competition inspired by the meaning of Compassion;
several competition entries were displayed on the evening.
As last year, the school hall was brimming with well over 100 people – young people
from the school who were performing, their families and other invited guests from
across the Borough, including Local Councillors, the Welcome Ambassadors and their
families, from Peatmoor Primary School and colleagues from other schools.

An extract from the introduction to Lawn Manor Academy’s June Newsletter, written by Headteacher, Mrs Sandra Muir, summarises the evening perfectly,

“Last Wednesday, we hosted a fantastic evening that celebrated the cultural diversity in our school. The event was well attended, not only by parents but also representatives from SBC and City of Sanctuary. LMA is working hard to gain ‘School of Sanctuary’ status and this event really did showcase why we should receive this. We were treated to food from all around the world that had kindly been donated and entertained by a Samba band, Indian music and dance, an Italian aria and some really moving poetry read in numerous native languages by our young people. We also have a number of pupils who are Welcome Ambassadors to help new pupils settle into our school and they were all part of this event. This week we have also had pupils coming to school in cultural dress from around the world and this has been a fantastic way to celebrate all of the diversity that we have in our school.”

Two moving dance pieces were choreographed by the young performers with PE and dance teacher, Ms Tasha Dixon. The talented dancers silenced the audience as they powerfully and passionately expressed the true meaning of Compassion through the universal language of dance to the music and songs of London-based Somali artist FaceSoul (aka Faisal Salah), one of national Refugee Week organisation’s featured artists.

A reading of Brian Bilston’s poem, Refugees, was cleverly performed in several languages –representing and celebrating the school’s cultural diversity. This added an extra layer of meaning to the whole poem.If you haven’t yet come across Bilston’s poem, here’s a link: Refugees – National Poetry Day. He visited Swindon Arts Centre just a week before the Celebration of Welcomes evening and performed this poem. It never loses its message – in fact it’s more powerful than ever given the current landscape for people seeking sanctuary.
Like the dance, the music during the evening was powerful. All the bands and voices, in all genres, were joyful expressions of celebration.

During the performance, Swindon’s Community Poet, Tony Hillier crafted his response to the whole evening in a wonderfully uplifting and celebratory poem:

Rhythms of Diversity
On Global Lawn Manor Stage
Last Act. Dance Act. Class Act
Moving into audience hands up
won the audience hands down with
hands up to welcome all nations
to drumbeat rhythms of diversity
Hands up in samba rhythm
enriching Swindon. Moving Swindon
towards empathic synchronicity
with smiles and film
with poetry and prose
with bongos and samba drums
with operatic and Punjabi solos
moving Swindon with creativity
culture and compassion
On Global Lawn Manor Stage
Class Act. Next Act: Compassionate Act

(Revised Version after the event by Swindon’s Community Poet, Tony Hillier, at Swindon Schools City of Sanctuary
‘Celebration of Welcomes’ Event on the theme of “Compassion”, Lawn Manor Academy, Swindon, 21 June 2023)