HUNDREDS of Queen Katherine School students have engaged with events and exhibitions in a thought provoking week on refugee experiences.

It was put together with the help of Amnesty Kendal and South Lakes Refugee Support.

Activities include a presentation on understanding what it means to be a refugee, reflecting and empathising with the experiences of refugees and thinking about how we can act in solidarity and with support.

The exhibitions on display were 'Syria – Reaching out to children and parents of war' and 'I Welcome (Amnesty)', which showed photographers capturing 70 years of forced displacement across 30 images.

Katherine France, head of humanities, said that the response had been 'overwhelmingly positive from students and staff'.

"I think to start with the students probably had a perception that the UK homed a great number of refugees and I think thy were quite surprised by how little the UK did take," she said. "And where refugees came from, too."

She said the main question students had was what they could do to welcome refugees.

"I think they were surprised that all it takes is a smile and a good will gesture to make people feel welcome," she said.