School of Sanctuary
What is a School of Sanctuary?
- A place that fosters a culture of welcome and safety for people seeking sanctuary, including asylum seeking and refugee families.
- Educates the whole school community about the human right to sanctuary and identifies practical means for schools to demonstrate that commitment.
- Builds empathy and intercultural awareness through promoting the voices and contributions of people seeking sanctuary, encouraging an understanding of the experiences of displaced people and helping to combat stereotypes.
Why is Corpus Christi a School of Sanctuary?
We know that Corpus Christi plays a crucial role in helping our children make sense of the world, to become responsible citizens and to create positive change in their communities. As of June 2020, there were 26 million refugees in the world, approximately half of whom were children, with climate change increasingly driving the forced displacement of people.
The UK offered protection to 19,480 people in the year ending September 2019, up by more than a quarter on the previous year, and nearly 20,000 people (mainly Syrians) have been resettled since 2014 through the Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme.
We know that we are at the forefront of receiving and supporting those forcibly displaced – for example, nearly a quarter of asylum seekers in the year ending September 2019 were under 18. Young people in the UK need not only to learn about these issues but where possible meet people face-to-face who have lived experience of displacement in order to understand both their local communities and the wider world better.
As a School of Sanctuary we know that we provide a powerful focus for development in areas such as:
- Consistantly meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010
- Imaginative re-engagement with required curriculum areas such literacy, language arts, geography, history, humanities
- Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural education and ‘British Values’
- Having a school culture that does not tolerate, hate speech and bullying
- Having an inclusive and supportive school community
- Pupils know that their voice promotes active & engaged citizenship
- Engaging families and strengthening the school’s role in the local community
- Helping improve pupil outcomes and attendance – students that feel safe and included will be more likely to attend schools
- Promoting well-being & community cohesion by building empathetic school environments
Take a look at some of the activities we do in and around school that actively promote our school as a School of Sanctuary:
October 2022
Fill the skies with hope:
The children created hearts with a message of hope to the Prime Minister.
We sent our messages inviting our local MP, Jess Phillips, into school.
November 2022
Look at these books that have arrived at school. All of them are about the lives and experiences of Asylum Seekers and Refugees.
December 2022
We began collecting for our Christmas Gift Boxes a few weeks ago and were amazed by how many gifts we received.
We made up 33 Christmas Gift Boxes altogether and we hope that they bring some joy for some refugees over the Christmas period.
We organised a coat swap at school and also at St Chad's.
We hope that this will help our refugee families over
January 2023
February 2023
We wrote messages of hope for our Schools of Sanctuary display - we hope that some of these messages reach the Home Secretary too.
We were visited by our MP Jess Phillips who we presented our messages of hope for Ms Phillips to deliver to the Home Secretary.
March 2023
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May 2023
They say a picture paints a thousand words. We pray for all who seek sanctuary. We pray that they get the help they deserve and are treated with dignity.
REFUGEE WEEK
We raised a lot of awareness as well as funds during our refugee week.
We had several meetings, assemblies and money raising activities and we all wore orange to show our solidarity with all refugees.
St Chad's Sanctuary
We also visited St Chad's Sanctuary again with even more donations...thank you to everyone who helped us to achieve this!
June 2023
Some questions for you to think about...
What is happening in this picture?
Where in the world is this or could this be happening?
Which rights are being allowed/denied?
What should be done to help these children and their families?
CAFOD Prayer for Refugees
Abba Father, our beloved Father,
look down with mercy on us and all refugees.
Remember your son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
had to leave his homeland and flee to Egypt,
when he was a baby,
with his mother, Mary,
and foster father, Joseph.
Help us to be aware
of the fears, anxiety, pain, sorrow,
difficulties and uncertainty all refugees suffer,
and to remember that we all belong
to the same human family.
Holy Spirit,
please give us compassion and courage
to help them in any way we can.
Amen.