School of Sanctuary

We are proud to be a School of Sanctuary!

This page documented our journey and kept our parents, parish and wider community up-to-date with our latest achievements. Read on to find out more about our journey... 

What is a School of Sanctuary?

A School of Sanctuary is a school that is committed to being a safe and welcoming place for all, especially those seeking a place of sanctuary. This could be people whose lives were in danger in their own country, who have troubles at home or are just looking for a safe space. A School of Sanctuary is a place that promotes a welcoming culture and a place of safety to those seeing sanctuary, including asylum-seeking and refugee families. It is a school that builds empathy and awareness of such issues and encourages children, parents, staff and the wider community to welcome those seeking sanctuary. 

A School of Sanctuary helps its school community to understand what it means to be seeking sanctuary and to extend a welcome to everyone as equal, valued members of the community. It is a school that is proud to be a place of safety and inclusion for all.

Why is a School of Sanctuary important?

• To promote and develop a sense of safety and inclusion for all.
• To understand what it means to seek sanctuary. 
• To provide learning opportunities around human rights, social justice and diversity.
• To increase student voice and promote active citizenship. 

Refugee Week 2024

Refugee Week 2023

The children in Key Stage 2 were overwhelmed to hear from our visitor from Stories of Hope and Home. He spoke about the struggles he faced on his four year journey to the UK, fleeing from political unrest in his country. He explained how Birmingham, due to it's multicultural community, felt like a home from home. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

All the children in school took part in a pilgrimage around the school playground. It helped the children think about the lives of some refugees, the countries which they may be fleeing from and the difficult journeys they may face.

We participated in a national initiative called 'Fill the skies with hope' day. We thought about how we feel about the government's plans to send refugees from Rwanda back to their country. We wrote messages to the government and our Prime Minister, Liz Truss, about our thoughts and feelings. We made paper planes on orange paper with our messages. We flew them in our school playground and around our school to 'fill the sky with hope.'

We have sent our photographs to our local MP for him to take with him to parliament.

Refugee Week 2022

Mrs Chapman led an assembly to launch Refugee Week in our school. We learnt about the history of refugees who have seeked sanctuary in the UK. We thought about this year’s theme ‘Healing’ and the activities that we are going to do this week.

The Mini Vinnies travelled to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour to help the SVP create bags of food and essential items for vulnerable families within our school community.

Year 4 created messages of welcome for those who are new to our school.

The children in Reception spoke about what it means to be a Refugee. They then created posters to welcome visitors into their classroom.

Refugee Week 2021

We learnt about Martin Luther King and that in his famous ‘I have a dream...’ speech, he said that all people needed to work together and ‘WE CANNOT WALK ALONE’. The children in Year 4 went for a walk around the playground talking with children who they wouldn’t ordinarily talk to.

The children in Year 3 listened to the story 'The Journey'. They thought about how it would feel to leave everything behind and embark on a potentially dangerous journey in order to get to safety.