School children from across Birmingham have been writing poems and creating ‘orange hearts’ artwork (the international symbol of welcome to refugees) to welcome those seeking sanctuary in the city, as part of a nationwide ‘week of action’ led by Together With Refugees. Joined by local charities, faith and community groups, they are coming together to call for a kind and fair approach to people seeking safety, while opposing the Governments Nationality and Borders Bill which is due to be debated in Parliament from this week.

Organised by Birmingham City of Sanctuary, on Thursday 21 October at Birmingham Central Library, pupils from Abbey Catholic Primary, Holy Cross Catholic Primary and St Dunstan’s Catholic schools amongst others will hear from refugees in Birmingham about their experiences. They will then share what they have been producing in class to welcome refugees and oppose the bill, before finishing with a protest and photo opportunity displaying their work outside of the library.

St Dunstan’s school is due to be awarded sanctuary status later this year due to its commitment to support refugees and students involved in the week of action activities. Harriet, a Year 6 pupil said: “I find it appalling that we talk about dignity and equality and then we treat the most vulnerable in our community with no dignity and no equality. This makes me so sad.

“We need to do more." Her class mate Jack added: “"God teaches us that we are all equal, that we are brothers and sisters.

“Helping one another is something we should do. Everyone has the right to feel safe," with pupil Rayaan adding: "I think that it is so important for us to become a School of Sanctuary, because every child has the right to feel safe and access an education. At least their mums would feel happier knowing they had a bit of normality. I think that if we do that, that's a good thing, right? It is exactly what we should be doing."

David Brown from Birmingham City of Sanctuary said: “We stand against this bill because it totally ignores the realities of why people have to flee their countries. Instead of criminalising those who seek safety in the UK, we need to create safe and legal routes - like the Syrian and Afghan Resettlement schemes - for those fleeing from war and persecution in their own countries to come and find safety in the UK.”

Elsewhere, over 1,000 orange heart brooches made out of clay will be given away to people across the city at a stall at St Martin’s in the Bullring on Saturday October 23. Members of the St Paul’s Church community – which includes refugees and asylum seekers – have been making them by hand for the past few weeks.

Alison Tinker, a support worker at the church and potter developed the idea after hearing about the week of action. She said: “We were thinking about what we could as a church to show our support for refugees, and as a potter, making clay brooches which people could wear seemed a great way to do this. We only expected to make a couple of hundred, so have been amazed by how many have been produced.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Sundragon Pottery either, who have kindly fired all the hearts for free! It would be wonderful to see as many people as possible taking a brooch and wearing them to show their love and welcome to the people seeking safety in Birmingham.”

The stall referenced will be at St Martins from 12 – 4pm until October 23 and staffed by volunteers from groups across Birmingham who work with refugees. Information on the Together With Refugees campaign will be available along with information from Asylum Matters about the bill and how you get involved in opposing.

Emma Birks, Asylum Matter Campaign Manager for the West Midlands will be at the stall tomorrow and said: “The proposals are fundamentally an anti-refugee bill that will rewrite the UK asylum system, with grave consequences for vulnerable people seeking safety.

“It will create a new two-tier system based on the journeys people made to get here, rather than their need for protection. It will increase poverty and homelessness and encourage more dangerous journeys in an attempt to reach safety.

“That's why we're calling on the Government to scrap this harmful bill and instead create an asylum system that is fairer, more effective and humane.”

The current proposals (2) for the bill would mean that most people who would be accepted as refugees under the current rules – meaning those confirmed to have fled war or persecution following rigorous official checks - would no longer have their rights recognised in the UK due to their method of arrival. Half of these would be women and children (3) and includes those left behind in Afghanistan.

Together With Refugees is a growing coalition of more than 300 national and local organisations who believe in showing compassion to refugees fleeing war and persecution. It was founded by Asylum Matters, British Red Cross, Freedom from Torture, Refugee Action, Refugee Council and Scottish Refugee Council.