There is a lot of momentum around the Schools of Sanctuary work in Newcastle and it is brilliant to see lots of schools interested in the work and getting involved.

You can find out more about Schools of Sanctuary and how to get involved, including a whole load of resources to help you on your journey here.

You can also hear from children who are pupils of recognised Schools of Sanctuary about what this means and why this is important to them here:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1582334253110824961

How to get involved: 

For schools that want to get involved there is timetable of training sessions and events planned for the 2024/25 academic year. Please get in touch via: [email protected]

For any schools who are new to this we recommend watching a recording of the  City of Sanctuary  ‘Introduction to Schools of Sanctuary’ event here.

And for those who are looking for training there are some brilliant offers nationally including IRC’s Healing Classrooms

As well as the training opportunities we would recommended checking out IRC’s back to school blog that complies key resources to help schools create a welcoming environment for new students.

Work of the existing schools of sanctuary as well as those working towards their awards have looked at a variety of things as part of the process, including looking at their existing curriculum and weaving in themes relating to refugees and forced displacement; looking at the school library and having an area dedicated to books about refugees, asylum seekers and human rights; making resources available to staff e.g. a Schools of Sanctuary Folder; school staff completing the Newcastle City of Sanctuary training module and building in learning about refugees and asylum seekers into staff inductions and ongoing training. There has also been thought given to how the schools support new arrivals with schemes set up such as EAL buddies for new arrivals who have English as an additional language, Language of the Month and Parent English Classes.