We Are a School of Sanctuary!

Ysgol y Ddraig is proud to announce that we have officially been accredited as a School of Sanctuary.

This national award recognizes our ongoing commitment to being a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for everyone—especially children and families seeking safety, refuge, or a new start in our community.

What is a School of Sanctuary?

A School of Sanctuary is part of the City of Sanctuary network, which works to build a culture of hospitality and compassion across schools, local organizations, and communities.

To achieve this award, our school demonstrated how we put three core principles into action every day:

• Learn: Helping our pupils, staff, and school community understand what it means to seek sanctuary, explore global issues, and build empathy for displaced people and refugees around the world.

• Embed: Creating a safe, nurturing environment where every child feels valued, supported, and a true sense of belonging. We ensure our practice, pastoral care, and everyday routines celebrate diversity and inclusion.

• Share: Reaching out beyond our school gates to stand in solidarity with people seeking safety, working with local community groups, and sharing our values of kindness and respect with others.

How We Earned the Award

Our journey to becoming a School of Sanctuary reflects the collective effort of our entire school community:

• Curriculum & Learning: We integrated themes of migration, human rights, and global citizenship into our lessons, allowing pupils to ask questions, challenge stereotypes, and understand the stories of people seeking safety.

• A Culture of Welcome: We developed robust welcome procedures for new arrivals and families, using visual tools, multilingual resources, and peer support systems so that every child feels right at home from day one.

• Pupil Voice & Action: Our pupils took an active lead—organizing events for Refugee Week, driving kindness initiatives across the school, and ensuring that our playground and classrooms remain bully-free, compassionate spaces.

• Community & Celebration: We collaborated with local community groups and celebrated the varied cultures, languages, and backgrounds that make up our school family.

Our Continuing Commitment

Receiving the School of Sanctuary award is not just a recognition of what we have done, but a promise of how we will continue to grow. At Ysgol y Ddraig, we remain committed to standing up for fairness, celebrating diversity, and ensuring that our school remains a beacon of welcome for all families.