Forget Me Not

It takes devotion to teach kids facing deportation

‘De Verrekijker’ primary school in Katwijk provides education for some 150 children from the local reception centre for refugees. The inspired teachers’ ultimate challenge is to offer these children a safe haven and make their school days as ordinary as possible. At first glance, De Verrekijker looks like a normal Dutch primary school. However, the boys and girls are children of rejected asylum seekers. Headmaster Toon and the teachers do all they can to give them the best education. Yet each morning they worry if any pupil has been forced to leave the country. After a series of deportations it becomes increasingly difficult to provide the children with a safe haven. The situation escalates when a group of Syrian boys fleeing war arrive at the school.