Schools are going to be at the forefront of receiving and supporting Ukrainian refugees.
The government is anticipating 100,000 Ukrainian children arriving into the UK and entering into the school system.
These children may face delays accessing school, and once enrolled, they may face language barriers, have acute psycho-emotional needs as the result of trauma, experience higher rates of
bullying and discrimination both in and outside school, might live in disadvantaged settings with few resources, and may have to overcome periods of missed or interrupted schooling.
Whilst some schools have a long tradition of welcoming and supporting students from sanctuary-seeking backgrounds, others will have little recent experience.
Our Schools of Sanctuary network is all about making education safe, welcoming and empowering – for everyone.
The 330+ schools in our network strive to overcome these challenges for their students, raise awareness of the issues facing people seeking sanctuary and seek to change the UK’s policies towards people seeking sanctuary. As long as they have school places, Schools of Sanctuary are schools that are prepared and ready to welcome new arrivals into their communities and effectively support them.
If you are a school, teacher or parent interested in learning more, see here.
We are a small charity that packs a punch. Every day we get enquiries from schools wanting to join our networks. We’re experiencing interest like never before, but we need your support to keep going. If you can, please chip into our fundraiser.
P.S – You may find our ‘How to talk to children about war’ resource useful. See here.