Pentrehafod School became the first school in Wales to be awarded School of Sanctuary status in 2013.

We were awarded School of Sanctuary status because we could clearly demonstrate that our school welcomed asylum seeker and refugee children and families into our school community.

We were able to demonstrate that our school enabled our community to ‘Learn about what it means to be seeking sanctuary’. Pupils from our school, including asylum seeker and refugee pupils and their families participated in a project called ‘Media Memories’. The project produced a dvd and display for the Waterfront Museum in Swansea that looked at, ‘the cultures and backgrounds of pupils in Pentrehafod school, community groups and people and places of interest in Swansea’. It was imperative to the school that all of our school community learnt and understood about why sanctuary is sought in the UK. As a natural component to our studies in school we invited various organisations such as Displaced People in Action, Welsh Refugee Council and City of Sanctuary to our school. Pupil voice told us,

‘I learned that it’s not easy being a refugee and leaving your country. The workshop changed my point of view and made me think about refugees and how we should treat them fairer.’

Pentrehafod demonstrated that we, ‘take positive action to embed the concepts of welcome, safety and inclusion within our school and within the wider community’ through having specific policies such as our Ethnic Minority/EAL learners poicy which reaffirms the inclusive education pupils receive and the type of support they may require based upon sound principles. Pentrehafod also has a policy ‘Procedure for Welcoming EAL/AS learners’ to our school. This policy has proven successful in making links between the home and school and includes this group of learners in every aspect of our school life. Pentrehafod does not shy away from the fact that racist incidents do occur in society have a specific procedure for dealing with racist incidents. This is rigorously enforced.

School of Sanctuary Renewal 2022

‘The school is a welcoming and inclusive community. Pupils and staff recognise and celebrate the diversity present in the school and wider community. The care, support and guidance offered by the school have a notable impact on pupils’ ambitions and the progress that they make.’ Estyn Report p.8

Pentrehafod School renewed our School of Sanctuary status in June 2022. We demonstrated how we keep up-to-date with learning about supporting those families who are seeking sanctuary in Wales. As a school, teachers participate in the B.A.M.E Ed forum and have attended training from DARPLE and RVE Natre. Students have also been involved in The World Reimagined Project.

We continue to embed understanding of migration issues within the curriculum. The Humanities department provides learning about migration and the push and pull factors. The English department incorporate discussion around the theme of seeking sanctuary reading literature based on these topics. Students have created their own poetry and speeches related to seeking sanctuary. The art department, prior to the World Reimagined project, researched and created artwork related to those seeking sanctuary.

We continue to update and develop specific policies to help support new arrivals from outside the UK to our school. We have policies for Minority Ethnic Learners, and Welcoming EAL and AS learners to Pentrehafod (see our policies).

Students in school participated in the Swansea School of Sanctuary Logo design competition. Four winners from our school worked with six other schools to create and develop a logo for schools who have been awarded School of Sanctuary Status in Swansea.

Some of our Young Interpreters and prefects took the initiative to promote food and clothing collections for Ukrainian refugees in March 2022.

We ensure that our environment reflects the linguistic repertoire of our school.

It is important that we share School of Sanctuary status with other schools and the wider public. We attend the School of Sanctuary Group in Swansea and share our progress on social media.