What is a School of Sanctuary?

A School of Sanctuary is a school that is committed to being a safe and welcoming place for all, especially those seeking a place of sanctuary. This could be people whose lives were in danger in their own country, who have troubles at home or are just looking for a safe space. A School of Sanctuary is a place that promotes a welcoming culture and a place of safety to those seeing sanctuary, including asylum-seeking and refugee families. It is a school that builds empathy and awareness of such issues and encourages children, parents, staff and the wider community to welcome those seeking sanctuary. 

A School of Sanctuary helps its school community to understand what it means to be seeking sanctuary and to extend a welcome to everyone as equal, valued members of the community. It is a school that is proud to be a place of safety and inclusion for all.

Why is a School of Sanctuary Important?

• To promote and develop a sense of safety and inclusion for all.
• To understand what it means to seek sanctuary. 
• To provide learning opportunities around human rights, social justice and diversity.
• To increase student voice and promote active citizenship. 

To support children and families who join Christ Church,

we have an EAL Policy and a Welcome Pack.

Christ Church is a School of Sanctuary

We first started our journey to gain a School of Sanctuary Award in the Spring Term of 2025.  This page is dedicated to documenting our journey and keeping our parents, church and wider community up-to-date with our latest achievements. Read on to find out more about our journey... 

Coming up in June/July 2025...

- Week of Welcome: 9th - 13th June

Y4, 5 and 6 will be working with another charity - The Feast - to develop our project around refugees to be displayed in Sparkhill Library.

- ​​​​​​National Day of Welcome - 13th June

- Refugee Week - 16th - 20th June

- and CC's Cultural Food Festival

May 2025

In the final week of Summer 1, we celebrated National Cultural Diversity Day.

Every child and teacher dressed up in their cultural attire, and we had our first CC fashion show.  In the afternoon, our wonderful parents came in and shared traditional tales and facts about their homelands  We also launched our Family Heritage Project.  This is an opportunity for parents to document information on their cultural heritage and their family's journey to the UK.  

Enjoy the photos, videos and pictures from this amazing event.  We are super proud of our CC community!

April 2025

Christ Church's support of refugees and asylum seekers gathered momentum.  Our school community collected clothes, food and toiletries for St Chad's Sanctuary.  We also had an Easter Egg Raffle and collected £152.50.  We are proud of our efforts and the Faith Team delivered everything on the 10th April. Well done CC!

March 2025

Our local School of Sanctuary leader - Barbara - visited us on the 12th March to train our Faith Team and Teachers.

On the Wednesday 19th March, our Faith Team visited St Chad's Sanctuary to find out about their charity work and how we can become involved.

We launched our School of Sanctuary work, on the 24th March, with a whole school assembly.  Every class has been inspired to create orange heart displays 🧡.

February 2025

Christ Church celebrated International Mother Language Day on the 21st February.  Our families and local community got involved and recorded videos saying hello/welcome in a range of languages.  Enjoy the video!

January 2025

Christ Church invited Stories of Hope and Home to work with us.  They shared stories of their experiences as refugees and helped us to think carefully about how we would welcome new people to our school.