Training
STAR national organizes training for student members throughout the year to help them run their STAR groups, promote refugees at university, volunteer for local projects and campaign effectively on a national and local level.
STAR hosts:
- National training events for STAR members nationally, including Committee Training and Volunteer Training.
- Local training customized for STAR groups at their universities, such as ‘Child Protection’ and ‘Working with Refugee Children’.
Committee Training 2010
On 12-13th June STAR students from around the UK gathered for a training weekend.
The weekend was action packed, fun and constructive. A variety of interesting guest speakers attended including Maurice Wren from Asylum Aid and Alison Harvey from Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association.
We also had a number of workshops held by exciting guests and members of STAR national about recruiting members, getting the most out of campaigning and organising volunteering.
The group activities for the ‘Simple Acts’ Campaign was particularly popular, including designing a pro-refugee banner.
Find out more about Committee Training 2010
Download Flyer
Volunteer Training
When: early Spring
Where: London
For students organising STAR volunteering projects directly supporting refugees and active volunteers.
The last training on February 19th-20th 2010 covered the following:
- Finding and keeping volunteers
- Why evaluate and how to do it
- Mentoring for young refugees in education
- Health and social needs of refugees
Volunteering Training 2009 (17th-18th April) focused on working with refugee children, with Aoife O’Higgens from The Children’s Society running sessions on the emotional needs of refugee children and how volunteers can support them.
Action Day Training
Action Day Training took place in Leeds and London in February 2009. It was a great opportunity for STAR groups to get to grips with the aims of Action Day 2009 and come up with ideas for action.
STAR’s annual Action Day is an opportunity for all STAR groups to unite together to transform the lives of refugees in the UK.
The training was to prepare students to take action in support of the Let Them Work campaign. We are spreading the message that people seeking asylum are prohibited from working, and that thousands of people are living in poverty with no chance to support themselves.
The training provided an in-depth look at the campaign targets for Action Day, with a full briefing on the policy facts about the right to work.
Students benefited from specialist sessions run by expert trainers. Youth organisation Junction49 helped students develop their ideas and then make them into a reality by focusing on project planning, and Refugee Council advised students on engaging with the media to try and spread positive messages about refugees.
Local Training
Groups have also received customized training on:
- Awareness session on Refugee Children (Bristol, Southampton, KCL, Birmingham, Barts London, Dec 2009 – Feb 2010)
- Child Protection (King’s College London, Jan 2009)
- Working with refugee women (Liverpool, Feb 2010)
- Positive management of difficult behavior (King’s College London)
Other training
‘What do kids want?’
London, 14th March ’09
Birmingham, 21st March ’09
Beba Parker, a specialist in the refugee children’s field, ran two training sessions for STAR volunteers wanting to work with refugee children.
