ST MARGARET’S ANFIELD CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

School of Sanctuary

“We support the ‘City of Sanctuary’ vision that the UK will be a welcoming place of safety for all and proud to offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We endorse the City of Sanctuary Charter, and agree to act in accordance with City of Sanctuary values and apply the network principles within our work (as far as our specific context enables us to).

We recognise the contribution of people seeking sanctuary. Sanctuary seekers are welcomed, included and supported within our context. We expect our branches or local groups (if any) to support their local City of Sanctuary group if one exists, and will facilitate contact between them and their local City of Sanctuary group.”

 

​As a School of Sanctuary here at SMA we are dedicated to providing a safe welcoming environment to those who are in need of sanctuary. This can be for anyone who is looking for a space they need to feel safe in school, those seeking a space from troubles at home to those who have sought asylum from danger in their own country.

We are very proud of our ‘School of Sanctuary Award’ which was achieved in the Summer Term, 2016. It involved all the staff and children working together and exploring ways to value one another and appreciate how everyone is different and special. You can still see the fantastic work that took place to achieve this award here Please look out for information in future letters/Newsletters. The ethos of our friendly, welcoming school was celebrated and the children enjoyed taking part in and contributing to events.

Building on this success, our school Wellbeing Team including Ms Hird our Safeguarding Lead, our SENDco Miss Owens, Mr Bishop our Learning Mentor and our EAL Co-ordinator Ms Filim (who is also our language teacher) always look forward to working with EAL parents and children throughout each and every year to ensure that everyone feels they are included and treated equally. (not sure who else to include here as we have such an amazing team including Ged and Josephine who often help out too and do fantastic work encouraging our diversity).

We are such a wonderfully diverse school with pupils, families and staff from all different backgrounds. Together we strive to:-

LEARN about what it means to be seeking sanctuary

TAKE POSITIVE ACTION to embed concepts of welcome, safety and inclusion within school and the wider community

SHARE our vision and achievements – and to be proud of being part of SMA and the community we live and work in!

​For many of our families and visitors their main port of call is our school office. We have invested in a wonderful Google Nest with an active translator to help us communicate more effectively when there isn’t a fluent speaker available. This has proved a success and we continue to build our relationships with our families and visitors in such a positive way with less barriers.

If you would like to learn more about School of Sanctuary please click the button below:

For more information about our EAL resources for families please see the parent tab on this website.