Schools of Sanctuary

Staff in all Trust schools are encouraged to work towards Schools of Sanctuary accreditation. Schools of Sanctuary are schools that have received a Sanctuary Award from City of Sanctuary UK or a partner organisation in recognition of its good practice in fostering a culture of welcome, belonging and solidarity for those seeking safety. Claire Buckler works with primary schools, and Fran Bailey with secondary academies, to support schools in the process of achieving this award.

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To become a School of Sanctuary, a school must take an intentional and reflective approach to reviewing and refining school practice in relevant areas and demonstrate that they have implemented three key principles:

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• LEARN Schools help their students, staff and wider community learn about what it means to be seeking sanctuary and the issues surrounding forced migration.
• EMBED Schools are committed to creating a safe and inclusive culture of welcome that benefits everybody, including anyone in their community seeking sanctuary.
• SHARE Schools share their values and activities with their local communities.

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Abbey Grange has continued to embrace all the joys of working towards being a School of Sanctuary. Here is a snapshot of some of the sanctuary events that have been happening in our school:

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• Students have led collective worship and assemblies using Black History Month resources and raising awareness of the importance of tolerance and kindness in Anti Bullying.
•  PSHCE days have engaged students with topics of migration, human trafficking, and sanctuary.
• Students have been encouraged to value different cultures as we learnt to say welcome in the different languages in our form groups. 
• We are delighted that several of our older students have met with a young asylum seeker to learn his story, have undertaken training via the City of Sanctuary, and are volunteering to support men seeking asylum and are currently housed in Leeds. 
• They also attended a speech by the founder of the City of Sanctuary; Rev’d Inderjit Bhogal at Leeds Minster.

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As a school, we are really enjoying this project, as well as hearing about what other schools in our trust are doing to work towards the Schools of Sanctuary Award as well. Do get in touch at info@abbeygrangeacademy.co.uk if you’d like to know more.

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Regards, Fran Bailey & Claire Buckler.

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