One of the key premises of the quilt was to make sure the full quilt visits the schools that contributed, so that children can see their work as part of the whole quilt. It is an important part of identity work to see minority voices coming together, getting elevated, enhanced, and louder.  On 6th March - the day after World Book Day, I was lucky to be able to visit Netherthorpe Primary School, where teacher Daniel Wright and all staff and children are doing outstanding work in integrating multilingualism into the classroom. During the course of a morning, we visited every single class, from Reception through to Year 6, showing the quilt, answering questions, and giving children a chance to recognise themselves and their work. It is truly difficult to describe the feeling when a girl recognised the Sudan flag and asked if she could move closer to it, when children are excitedly pointing out words, languages and flags they know. I am (not) sorry to say that we found each class peacefully working, and left each class in a chaos of excitement, with a buzz lying over the whole school.

Sabine Little, 8th March 2026

It was a pleasure and an honour to be asked to write an article about the Quilt of Welcome for Languages Today, the magazine for members of the Association for Language Learning. As well as providing a brief overview of the project, it includes some guidelines for any school or other setting who wishes to make their own quilt.

Sabine Little, 31st January 2026