A group of children visited the Mansion House in Bristol to receive their award from the Lord Mayor of Bristol, Cllr Paula O’Rourke and where some of their new arrivals read poems they had written about Peace.

“We decided to begin the journey to become a School of Sanctuary when we heard we would be welcoming some children from Ukraine just over a year ago. We wanted them to feel settled and welcomed as quickly as possible but not overwhelmed,” explained Jenny Campbell, Headteacher. “With so much in the news at the time and with the constant negative messaging around the arrival of refugee and asylum seekers, it felt important to expand on our experience and help our school community to understand that many people have no choice but to leave their homes.”

Beth Brown, Humanities lead and Year 5/6 teacher, has helped lead the project, ensuring that a range of lessons, activities, assemblies and events have helped children across the school learn about the ways in which they can help people who have been displaced settle and feel welcome.

Madame Chairman of North Somerset Council, Cllr Wendy Griggs has also visited Blagdon Primary School to offer her congratulations and talk to the children about what they have learned.

Schools play a crucial role in helping young people to 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 according to the UNHCR, approximately half of whom were children, with climate change increasingly driving the forced displacement of people.

Schools of Sanctuary is a growing network with more than 350 primary and secondary schools all committed to supporting the thousands of young people seeking sanctuary in the UK, creating a culture of welcome, and raising awareness of the issues faced by refugees and asylum seekers. For more information about how to get involved, visit https://schools.cityofsanctuary.org/