School of Sanctuary Award

Welcome to our newsletter to inform you about the work we have been doing towards becoming ‘A School of Sanctuary.’ Becoming a school of sanctuary is incredibly important to us; we want to ensure we are welcoming and inclusive to all visitors and students from across the world.

Mrs Wright is leading the School of Sanctuary and is building a team of ‘Cultural Ambassadors’ to support our work together. Did you know that in our academy we speak an amazing 24 languages?

We hope that if we were to welcome new arrivals we would be able to buddy up our students to support language integration. If you as a parent or carer are reading this and think you could also help, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Bringing Cultures Together with a Love of Food

The cultural ambassadors held a celebration evening where they all made traditional dishes and invited a friend along to share the experience. Each student also chose a piece of music from their culture and this was played during the evening. We had food from India, South Africa, Italy and Lithuania. The food was amazing and everyone enjoyed talking about their dishes and explaining the origins and when this food would be eaten.

Refuge Week June 20^th-24^th 2022

National refugee week took place in June this year. The theme was Healing. Each year there are events that take place around the country to celebrate the contribution, creativity and authenticity of people who have experienced forced migration. The Cultural Ambassadors learned about refugees and the difficult journey they have to make to a place of safety. They made T-shirts and wore them all week to provoke discussion around the plight of refugees and raise awareness of it amongst our school community. Students across school also learnt about refugees during tutor time, watching some video of refugees sharing their stories. By raising awareness, we hope to dispel some common misconceptions about refugees and create an environment where everyone feels safe and accepted without prejudice.

Welcoming Gulwali Passerlay

Justice First

Next year we are incredibly proud to be supporting our local charity ‘Justice First’ who are based in Stockton. Justice First help people who are in the final stages of the asylum process to give them the best possible opportunity to support their claim for asylum. They raise awareness of the hardship faced by many families and they also provide a safe and trusting environment where people can tell the story of their refugee journey. They have helped over 700 people in our community.

Our no-school uniform day planned for October 22, will support their work and they will come into school to talk about how the money will be used. This important link to our community will mean that people who have used the charity can share their stories with us and we can use our courageous advocacy to make a difference.

We will share our work with Justice First in our next Newsletter in December.

OUR VISION IS OF A SOCIETY BASED ON A TRADITION OF WELCOME, ACCEPTANCE AND DIGNITY FOR THOSE WHO SEEK SAFETY IN THE UK

If you would like to find out more about their excellent work they have a great website: Justice First

Myth Busting

Why do people become refugees?

People become refugees for a number of different reasons, including: Persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. For well over a decade, the number of people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution has steadily increased.

Refugees – Some useful terminology.

Asylum seeker 

Someone who leaves their homeland and arrives in another country. They make themselves known to the government and submit an ‘asylum application’ so they can be seen as a refugee in another country. They have a legal right to stay in the country while their application is processed. 

Refugee 

Someone who has proven to the government that they would be at risk if returned to their home country. They have had their application for asylum accepted by the government. They can now stay there either long-term or indefinitely. 

Migrant 

Someone who has left or fled their home to go to new places to seek opportunities or safer and better prospects. This term can mean anyone who has left their country for any reason. 

Visit to Dene Academy

Denr Academy in Peterlee invited Mrs Buchan and Mrs Wright to come and see the wonderful work they had done over the last year in preparation for their successful accreditation as a school of Sanctuary. Part of the important work schools complete as part of SoS is to encourage schools to share best practice and build a wider community of support and welcome.

The school talked at length about the art work they created to support a welcoming entrance to the school, diversity across the curriculum and even the work with Open Door Charity in Middlesbrough to celebrate Refugee Week.

We hope this link with another school will help to strengthen links with our communities and the work we can do together will make a real difference to people seeking sanctuary. Dene Academy’s School Council created a piece of installation art to show that everyone is welcome in their school. The Refuge Welcome Heart is proudly placed in their entrance hall as you walk in.