Ukrainian Coffee and Conversation Hub

The Hub is a weekly Saturday morning event hosted at Emanuel School. It is staffed by parent and pupil volunteers and volunteers from our local community. The event is targeted at Ukrainian refugees in our neighbourhood. The aim is to provide them with a safe space to practise their English, connect with other Ukrainians and signpost much needed information on housing, benefits, schools etc.  

Aims

The aim of the Hub is to provide Ukrainian attendees with the opportunity to connect with other Ukrainians, practise their English and provide much needed information. 

We have several Ukrainian/Ukrainian speaking parents/volunteers that help us translate key messages. Through them, we have been able to tailor our sessions to the needs of our participants. We ask for regular feedback and ideas and adjust our programme accordingly. 

The immediate beneficiaries are the Ukrainians in our community. Host families have also found the sessions helpful. 

Background

We successfully ran drives for medical supplies, warm clothing, sanitary items and funds when the invasion took place. Our parent body was keen to do more. (We had over 60 volunteers for the drives.) 

We noted that successful conversation hubs had been established for Syrian refugees and thought that a similar concept would be helpful in our local community. 

We launched the Hub in the Summer term 2022. 

Resources

Our Head of Community Partnerships and Outreach markets and organises the logistics for the programme. She is supported by an active group of parent and pupil volunteers. 

We run the Hub at Emanuel School. We provide tea, coffee and snacks. Catering staff are involved in the set up and tear down. Maintenance is also involved in room set up for each event. This is funded by Emanuel. 

Impact

We monitor ad hoc feedback. We routinely ask participants for their ideas and to identify what would be most helpful. 

A core group of about 25 participants attend the sessions. 

Pupil Involvement

We have pupils volunteer. They are from Years 8 to 13 and are girls and boys. 

Frequency

The event was initially weekly. We have now moved to bi-monthly. We will continue running the Hub for as long as there is a need.