Hearts and Hopes
Hearts and Hopes is a child-led social action project inspiring young people to stand in solidarity and offer friendship to young refugees living near and far.
Groups take part in a series of refugee awareness workshops where they learn about the lives and experiences of young refugees. They are then invited to reach out and support young refugees offering friendship, hope, solidarity to improve social inclusion and wellbeing.
Since starting in 2016 we have connected groups of British School children to support groups of young refugees in the UK, France, Lebanon, Jordan and Greece.
In 2018 and 2019, thanks to grants from Leeds Gifting and Leeds Community Foundation, Nola has delivered weekly Hearts and Hopes projects in partnership with Lawnswood High, Otley All Saints
C of E Primary and Kirkstall Valley Primary, where groups of school children have designed and led various social action initiatives, including the creation of new refugee awareness materials for classrooms nationally.
Click here to access your FREE copy of our Refugee Awareness classroom resource 'The Right To Safety is a Human Right' designed by children for children and piloted and evaluated by 6 schools in Refugee Week, June 2019.
 Students crafting gifts for Syrian children displaced in Jordan |  Students crafting gifts for children displaced from Syria, living in Jordan. |  Cards and crafted gifts for Syrian children, displaced in Jordan |
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 Hearts and Hopes, a child-led social action project aiming to improve the social inclusion of child refugees |  Syrian Girl, delighted to receive a letter from a child in Leeds. |  Syrian boy, delighted to receive a letter from a child in Leeds. |
 Cultural identity and crafting workshop in Jordan. |  Cultural identity and crafting workshop in Jordan. |  Syrian boy receives a handmade bookmark from a child in Newcastle. |
 |  Gifts and crafted items ready to send to children in Vial refugee camp, Greece. |  Hearts and Hopes students creating the 'Lessons of Hope' refugee awareness resource |
 Children leading a fundraiser for our youth work projects to support young refugees locally. |  Resources for friendship bracelets for children in Vial refugee camp Greece |  Children coordinating the friendship bracelet project for Vial refugee camp, Greece |
 Children coordinating the friendship bracelet project for children in Vial refugee camp, Greece |  Children coordinating the friendship bracelet project for children in Vial refugee camp, Greece |  Children coordinating the friendship bracelet project for children in Vial refugee camp, Greece |
 Children coordinating the friendship bracelet project for children in Vial refugee camp, Greece |  Children coordinating the friendship bracelet project for children in Vial refugee camp, Greece |  Children's messages of hope and friendship for children living in Vial refugee camp, Greece |
 Child in Vial camp receiving her bracelet from a child in Leeds. |  Child in Vial refugee camp wearing their new bracelet from a child in Leeds. |  Child in Vial refugee camp receiving their bracelet from a child in Leeds |
 Hearts and Hopes group gathering their ideas for their new refugee awareness film |  Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |  Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |
 Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |  Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |  Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |
 Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |  Learning some key facts relating to refugees and human rights, turning these into artwork for our new child-led film. |  Designing artwork for our new Hearts and Hopes film. |
 Designing artwork for our new Hearts and Hopes film. |  Designing artwork for our new Hearts and Hopes film. |  Designing artwork for our new Hearts and Hopes film. |
 Elliott, a young person on work experience with My Bright Kite, who lead on the filming and editing of our new film. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |
 Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |
 Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |
 Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |  Shooting our new refugee awareness film 'The Right to Safety is a Human Right' researched, scripted and presented by children for children. |
 Watching the first cut of the film and making notes of our edit requests. |  Designing classroom based learning activities to go alongside our film. |  Practicing the lesson we wrote, that goes alongside our film and classroom resources. |
 Delivering our lesson for our peers in Refugee Week 2019 |  Delivering our lesson for our peers in Refugee Week 2019 |  Some of the pledges made by children who participated in our lesson |
 Delivering our lesson for our peers in Refugee Week 2019 |  Being presented with certificates by Faisal, a youth leader with Hearts and Hopes |  Being presented with a certificate of achievement by Faisal, a youth leader with Hearts and Hopes. |
 Handing over artwork that our school made for the waiting area of PAFRAS, a local refugee charity in Leeds. We aimed to brighten up their waiting area and cheer people up. |  Handing over artwork that our school made for the waiting area of PAFRAS, a local refugee charity in Leeds. We aimed to brighten up their waiting area and cheer people up. |  Cards of friendship and hope for children living in a refugee camp in Northern Lebanon. |
 Messages of friendship and hope for children living in an informal refugee camp in France |  A child in France receiving our message of hope and solidarity. |  Some of the artwork children produced after participating in our refugee awareness workshops. |
 Making a canvas of hope for Syrian children displaced and living in Lebanon. |  Syrian children in Lebanon wearing the bracelets children in Leeds crafted. |  Children in Leeds making cards of friendship and hope for children in a refugee camp in France and Lebanon. |
 Boxes of educational resources, for children missing school, living in an informal camp in Calais, France |