In 2012 Pentrehafod School was the first school in Wales to be awarded School of Sanctuary status. The award highlights the fact that Pentrehafod School is an inclusive school which welcomes pupils from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. The community of Pentrehafod provides a welcoming and supportive environment for all families including those who are seeking asylum or have refugee status. Over thirty different languages are used by Pentrehafod pupils and their families who have links to nearly 40 countries.
Pentrehafod ensures that the English language acquisition of new arrivals to the school is supported and uses appropriate well-established strategies that enable ethnic minority learners to achieve their full potential.
EAL/EM learners also have access to pastoral and academic support during break, lunchtime and after school to ensure any queries are dealt with a swiftly as possible.
Home-school links are an important aspect in delivering successful outcomes for English as an additional language/ethnic minority EAL/EM) learners and to this end we encourage positive links between parents and school. This is done by the provision of interpreters (where available) for statutory meetings and for other face-to-face meetings ‘the big word’ is also used to make contact with parents via telephone. This approach ensures that all parents are informed and involved in their children’s education and we believe this has had an important role in the positive trend of high attainment in KS3 and KS4 thresholds by EAL/EM learners in Pentrehafod.
Learners from ethnic minority backgrounds participate fully in all aspects of the school. They make a valuable contribution to the Student Parliament, enterprise groups, and school sports teams.
Pentrehafod School understands the importance of the Equality Act 2010 and the Public sector equality duty which came into force in 2011.