We kicked off the Refugee Week celebrations on Monday 10th June 2024 with the prestigious Schools of Sanctuary Awards! This event brings together our vibrant community of local schools who are dedicated to creating a welcoming community here in Swansea.
This year, we were honoured to collaborate once again with Swansea Council Education Directorate and Swansea Arena to host this inspiring annual event. Our long-term volunteer and Management Committee member, Funmilayo Olanian, did an absolutely brilliant job (as always!) of hosting the event.
We celebrated the exceptional achievements of Gyfun Gŵyr, Parkland Primary, Sketty Primary, and St. Illtyd Primary, recognising their commitment to the City of Sanctuary vision and their achievement of their School of Sanctuary status.
“Being an excellent school means being a School of Sanctuary”
– Helen Morgan Rees, Director of Education in Swansea
Upon receiving their awards, each school performed songs, raps and poetry that they had prepared specially for this event, inspired by this year’s Refugee Week theme of “Our Home“.
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- Sketty Primary performed a rap, “Sketty School coming through with inclusion”, followed by a presentation about their work towards becoming a School of Sanctuary
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- The children of St. Illtyd Primary showcased a video and also presented a rap
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- Parkland Primary read poetry, and displayed their collaborative artwork on the theme of “Our Home”
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- The choir from Gyfun Gŵyr sang three songs – yn Gymraeg!
The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, described the “life-changing work” made by our local schools, who “make schools safe, inclusive and welcoming to children”.
Sian Summers Rees, the Chief Officer of City of Sanctuary who is from Swansea originally, reflected on the Refugee Week theme of “Our Home”, and asked the audience to consider what it might feel like to find a home in a city like Swansea. Sian celebrated that we now have 34 Schools of Sanctuary in Wales, with 77 other schools also working towards achieving their Sanctuary status!
All of these schools have demonstrated such a commitment to the City of Sanctuary vision, and should all be incredibly proud to be recognised as a place of welcome and inclusion. We’d like to thank all the students, staff, and parents who have supported their schools in the process of becoming a School of Sanctuary this year. As stated by Helen Morgan Rees, “education is about creating the best humans possible”, and we believe these steps towards a culture of welcome plays a significant part in the education of our communities.
We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to our panel this year: Carys Davies, Cerian Appleby, Elaine Rees, Funmilayo Olaniyan, Martha Ako, Stephanie Jones and Yvonne Jardine, who volunteered their time to visit schools and thoroughly review all of the applications. Finally, we say a special thanks to Ruth Castle from the Swansea Council Education Directorate for leading the panel and putting this brilliant day together.
We are what our supporters do!
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If your school is interested in working towards becoming a School of Sanctuary, please take a look at the School of Sanctuary page on the CoS UK website, and get in touch with us: [email protected].