St Cyres is re-applying for the ‘Schools of Sanctuary’ award

For many years now, we have worked alongside our expert counterparts in the Vale of Glamorgan to help educate and support families who were part of the Syrian Resettlement Scheme in the Vale of Glamorgan, more recently welcoming families from other countries in need of sanctuary. We continue to be very proud of these amazing and inspiring individuals and their families, who have been part of this unique aspect to the St Cyres journey, and we would like to let all parents and pupils know that we will be re-applying for the School of Sanctuary certification once more this year. 

We very much pride ourselves on our celebration of diversity, of our intent to provide inclusion for all and to provide a safe and warm environment for those in need. Rather than an award to mark the end of our journey in supporting families who have sought refuge, education and a safer place to raise their children, we want to reapply for this award as an acknowledgement of our ongoing respect for all those families who have allowed us to help their children to thrive in the Vale of Glamorgan, no matter who they are, or how they came to be, part of St Cyres. 

In re-applying for this award, we hope to mark our continued involvement in providing sanctuary for those who need it, and to use this to show our ongoing commitment to not only welcoming in all children from all backgrounds, very much including refugees, but to continue to put actions to our St Cyres ethos- ‘Strive Together Challenge Yourself;  Realise Everyone can Succeed’. 

For any information on this excellent organisation, please find further details here:

https://schools.cityofsanctuary.org/

For any school based information on our work in this area, please contact Mr Stu McDonald at smcdonald@stcyres.org, or you can phone the school and i will be more than happy to get back to you. 

We have signed up to further the aims of this great organisation and attach the pledge of Schools of Sanctuary below:

^{“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.”}